Ole Miss gets sweet revenge over Lane Kiffin with brutal postgame handshake snub 10 months in the making

Revenge can taste so sweet.

Lane Kiffin's return to Oxford, Mississippi as the head coach of the No. 7 LSU Tigers was not a welcome one as No. 8 Ole Miss handed their former coach a 32-24 defeat on Saturday night.

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Serving in the role as college football's main character at the moment, Kiffin was met with raucous boos from the extra-policed crowd when he took to the field for the hotly anticipated match-up between two of the SEC's biggest teams.

It was a must-win game for the 51-year-old after he abandoned the Rebels days before the 2025 College Football Playoff (CFP) in one of the most controversial moves in recent history.

But it was the home side, with former offensive coordinator Pete Golding now as their head coach, who had the last laugh.

In front of a record crowd at the Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, Rebels quarterback Trinidad Chambliss scored a late touchdown rush to cancel out a late rally from the Tigers, who had been down 24-7 at half time.

LSU QB Sam Leavitt even had an opportunity to win the game with a minute left on the clock.

But on a 4th & Goal at the Mississippi six-yard line, his pass was intercepted by cornerback Jaylon Braxton to seal the revenge victory for Ole Miss.

After this play, a video showed Kiffin attempting to shake hands with Rebels safety Joenel Aguero, but the senior snubbed his former coach by putting his hands behind his back and running away down the field.

Brutal.

“I’m glad it’s over. This was an emotional game for a lot of reasons,” Kiffin said postgame. “A lot of life-changing experiences here. A lot of really good people that helped me through some really hard times. ...

“I don’t know, sometimes you can’t predict your emotions. I know sometimes I don’t act like it but I’m a human, too. …

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"Congrats to those guys, they played really well. They deserved to win," he added.

"I know this will sound weird, as much as I dislike the losing, there is a part in there, with a lot of those coaches and players, I wouldn’t say I’m excited, but I’m glad for them.”

Chambliss fires subtle shots at Kiffin

Chambliss was particularly impressive, especially in the first half, when he passed for 248 yards through the first two quarters alone, which was as many as the LSU defense had given up in their first two games of the season combined.

The 24-year-old signal caller finished with 363 yards and two touchdowns to one interception from 33-of-48 passing, as he showed once again why he is one of the leading frontrunners for the coveted Heisman Trophy.

“Emotions were high,” Chambliss said after the game. “I got kind of caught up in the moment.

“This one meant a lot more than other games — the coaches that were here, now at LSU, some players as well. I wanted this one bad and our team did, too.”

Was that Chambliss firing subtle shots at Kiffin? Perhaps.

But after the way things went down at the end of last season, with many Rebels players going public and accusing Kiffin of lying about players asking him to 'keep coaching' throughout the CFP, this win clearly meant more to every single player on the roster.

It'll surely be a long journey back to Baton Rouge for LSU, who may be wondering whether the outcome would have been different if only they had been allowed to sign NFL talent to the roster.

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