Lane Kiffin, who’s your daddy? It’s Trinidad Chambliss and Ole Miss | Opinion

Lane Kiffin, who's your daddy? It's Trinidad Chambliss and Ole Miss Opinion Trinidad Chambliss kept looking at the LSU sideline after Ole Miss touchdowns.

Key points

• He's the dude who delivered a 32-24 Ole Miss uppercut on Kiffin and LSU in a top-10 showdown.
• The quarterback Kiffin signed at Ole Miss as a Division II transfer threaded a 36-yard seed between two defenders and into Ray's hands.
• But, a drive around town or a stroll through The Grove indicated you Ole Miss fans had more than Lane on the brain.
• Author John Talty discusses the powerful influence of Lane Kiffin's parents and the revelations uncovered while writing his book.
• As ex-coach Lane Kiffin watches with thousand-yard stare, trinidad Chambliss goes off for Ole Miss.

As ex-coach Lane Kiffin watches with thousand-yard stare, trinidad Chambliss goes off for Ole Miss. LSU storms back, but Chambliss delivers winning touchdown. Ole Miss fans boo Kiffin on record attendance night at Vaught-Hemingway.

OXFORD, MS – Trinidad Chambliss kept looking toward the LSU sideline after Mississippi touchdowns.

His ex-coach, the guy who became a traitor in this land and others, stared back with a blank expression.

Chambliss looked over once, twice, then a third time after a zippy touchdown pass that turned this high-stakes grudge match into some sweet vengeance for Ole Miss.

Chambliss pounded his fist against his chest, and somewhere behind Kiffin's thousand-yard stare, surely it must've been sinking in for college football's biggest villain that he was witnessing hero ball.

Hayes: LSU went all-in with Lane Kiffin circus. Then obtained served cold gumbo.

More: Ole Miss fans boo Lane Kiffin relentlessly. Then the LSU coach responded. Lane, who's your Trinidaddy? Yes, Mississippi lost the coach. It kept the dude.

He's the dude who delivered a 32-24 Ole Miss uppercut on Kiffin and LSU in a top-10 showdown. "Trinidad is magic, " Rebels wide receiver Traylon Ray remarked.

Was Chambliss trying to catch Kiffin's eye after those touchdowns? Yeah, he won't deny it.

"Just a lot of emotions throughout this game, " Chambliss remarked. ". Just a lot a riding on it, so, yeah, I might have been looking over to the (LSU) sideline. Just the emotions kind of came out. I'm a competitor." Trinidad Chambliss goes hero mode. Lane Kiffin can only watch.

We looked at this revenge game all wrong. So much oxygen and ink and airtime and spotlight wasted on Kiffin.

We couldn't take our eyes off Kiffin throughout the offseason or in the run-up to this game. That's the way he likes it.

Ole Miss fans greeted Kiffin with a thunderous chorus of boos before kickoff, and the student section serenaded the renegade with a chant that starts with a four-letter word, and ends with Lane Kiffin.

It succinctly conveyed the message and the emotions plenty of inside Vaught-Hemingway felt.

Then, the game began, and the WWE-style theater faded, and Kiffin became spectator to Chambliss' greatness, just like the rest of us.

Meanwhile, the quarterback Kiffin signed at Ole Miss as a Division II transfer threaded a 36-yard seed between two defenders and into Ray's hands. A few plays afterwards, Ole Miss was in the end zone for its first touchdown. Chambliss bounced around triumphantly and looked toward Kiffin.

In practice, the next drive concluded with Chambliss' 21-yard dart to Ray on a crossing route for a score. The quarterback looked to the sideline again. Kiffin just stared.

After the next drive: another Chambliss touchdown toss, this one an incredible throw on the run into a tight window, placed where only Deuce Alexander could catch it, once more. Another look toward Kiffin, paired with a chest thump. "He's the hardest player to play in America, " Kiffin remarked afterward. Heisman voters, were you seeing this?

Chambliss threw for 363 yards and two touchdowns, then rushed for the winning score.

"That's who he is, " Ole Miss coach Pete Golding informed ABC during the game.

If Chambliss could handle Kirby Smart and Georgia in the Sugar Bowl after Kiffin bailed on the Rebels, then of course he could pull off this virtuoso performance in front of a record crowd of 70, 033 hungry for some comeuppance.

Kiffin treated Ole Miss like it was never good enough, but there might be no quarterback in the country better than the one he left behind.

And there was no better college football environment on this day than the venue Kiffin once criticized.

For context, a few years ago, a dissatisfied Kiffin compared the Vaught-Hemingway scene to that of a high school crowd. Maybe, that rebuke was needed then. His message resonated. Ole Miss fans heard him, and they responded when Kiffin was the coach they loved, and they created sure he heard their roar (and their jeers) after he became the coach who scorned them. "The crowd showed up, " Kiffin acknowledged.

Days before the game, a local theater hosted a roast of Kiffin, and the predictable digs were written on signs here and there around the town square, and throughout the iconic tailgating scene.

But, a drive around town or a stroll through The Grove indicated you Ole Miss fans had more than Lane on the brain. Signs of adoration were displayed for Golding, with one showing Golding riding a tiger. LSWHO, it read.

Red and black Trinidad and Tobago flags are ubiquitous in this idyllic Southern town. They're displayed on porches around town, and they hang from tailgate tents in The Grove.

Sure, Chambliss is from Michigan, but the flags show affection for the quarterback who propelled Ole Miss to the playoff semifinals last season, then stayed to run it back after his coach vamoosed.

Ole Miss' true hero engineered a first-half masterpiece in this Magnolia Bowl – and then it almost all went poof. Ole Miss survives LSU rally, Trinidad Chambliss wins it. Hope is a dangerous thing.

Notably, a certain deep-voiced actor who indicated up here in The Grove wearing powder blue cautioned everyone of that years ago.

Dangerous though it is, the Mississippi fans who seethed with hatred for Kiffin these past a number of months, and let him hear concerning it when he came out of the visitor's tunnel, must have been brimming with hope by halftime.

For two quarters, the Rebels knocked the wind out of Kiffin and his Tigers.

At halftime, you couldn't have blamed anyone who cheers "Hotty Toddy" or waves a Trinidad and Tobago flag for feeling hopeful that sweet vengeance, euphoric payback, and a rightful comeuppance was just around the corner. But, Morgan Freeman informed y'all once before. Hope, folks, is a dangerous thing. It's a fool's emotion at halftime of a rivalry game.

Ole Miss' 17-point halftime lead disappeared faster than Kiffin on a jet plane. LSU stormed back and tied the score in the fourth quarter.

Ole Miss needed its hero to re-emerge one more time. He did.

And after Chambliss ran into the end zone for the winning score, he looked first toward the crowd, and they cheered him like they applied to cheer Kiffin. Then, he snuck one more peek toward the LSU sideline. Kiffin could only stare back.

He jilted Ole Miss, and he left behind one of college football's most heroic performers.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's senior national college football columnist. Listen to his podcast, "College Football Unfiltered." Email him at [email protected] and follow him on X @btoppmeyer. SMS Facebook Twitter Email. Share your feedback to support improve our site! Share your feedback to support improve our site!

In short, lane Kiffin, whos your daddy? Its Trinidad Chambliss and Ole Miss is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.