Lane Kiffin was forced to watch from afar as his former Ole Miss players suffered a heartbreaking loss to Miami in the Fiesta Bowl on Thursday, and Kiffin, now the LSU head coach, weighed in on X afterward, describing the year as the “best season ever in the history of Ole Miss.”
“Amazing effort and grit,” Kiffin wrote earlier in his post while tagging the football account, adding a crying face emoji and including a GIF of a breaking heart. “… love guys.”
Eleven minutes later, Kiffin shared another X post, this time responding to a clip of Ole Miss’ final Hail Mary pass and writing that Miami should’ve been called for pass interference — with defensive back Ethan O’Connor appearing to grab Rebels wideout De’Zhaun Stribling in the end zone.
Trinidad Chambliss threw for 277 yards and a touchdown that gave Ole Miss a 27-24 lead with just over three minutes remaining, but Hurricanes quarterback Carson Beck drove Miami down the field and delivered a three-yard touchdown run that flipped the game for good with 18 seconds left.
The Rebels’ loss closed the door on a chaotic stretch that dated back to the end of the regular season, when Kiffin decided to bolt for LSU and a seven-year, $91 million deal despite Ole Miss being 11-1 and on the brink of the College Football Playoff (CFP).
The Rebels landed the No. 6 seed, crushing Tulane in the first round and then upsetting Georgia in the quarterfinal before coming one stop — or one successful Hail Mary — away from reaching the national championship game against the Indiana vs. Oregon winner.
Kiffin, who has been assembling the Tigers’ roster for next season after the transfer portal opened last week, kept commenting on the Ole Miss games through X posts, and wrinkles such as Kiffin making $500,000 for the Rebels’ win over Georgia and whether the staff accompanying him to LSU would be able to coach the CFP games became accompanying storylines.
He also wanted to coach the Rebels in the postseason games even after leaving, but that desire was denied by Ole Miss.
“I will just remember how they embraced each other,” new Ole Miss coach Pete Golding told reporters. “There was a lot going on the last month. They’re going to be talking about this for a long time.”
