Last fall, Lane Kiffin named Trinidad Chambliss the new starting quarterback at Ole Miss, after the Rebels lost Austin Simmons to an injury. Chambliss took that new title and ran with it, leading Ole Miss to a spot in the College Football Playoff and a thrilling upset of Georgia in the Sugar Bowl.

Kiffin ran to Baton Rouge to take over as the new head coach of the LSU Tigers.

On Saturday night in Tiger Stadium the two met again, this time on opposite sides of the field, and Chambliss took another title from his former coach.

The title of college football’s main character.

Chambliss and the Rebels knocked off LSU by a final score of 32-24, in a thrilling contest that came down to the final seconds. In this highly anticipated matchup of top-ten teams, Ole Miss now has the edge on a path to the College Football Playoff this season, and Chambliss has put himself firmly in the discussion for national accolades.

And perhaps even more.

A good personal barometer regarding whether a sports storyline has broken through to the mainstream is, well, my mom. My mom is a huge football fan, consuming all the content she can on both television and online, but her main focus is the NFL.

So when she brings up a college storyline — as she did on Saturday morning when she asked me why LSU and Kiffin were all she saw on TV this week — it means a story has escaped the sports world and become something more. This was certainly the case with Kiffin’s return to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on Saturday night, a moment that has been hyped since Kiffin got on a plane to Baton Rouge.

As I explained to her on Saturday, that focus was because the LSU coach had cemented himself as the sport’s main character.

Until now.

A national conversation that focused on Kiffin, for good reason, now shifts to his former quarterback.

Chambliss was near-perfect on Saturday night, in the middle of a charged cauldron and frenzied atmosphere. He completed 33-of-48 passes for 363 yards and a pair of touchdowns, and one interception, and scored the decisive touchdown on a run in the fourth quarter, after the Tigers had come back from what was a 24-7 deficit to knot the game at 24-24.

The quarterback started red-hot, throwing both of his touchdown passes in the first half, but as the Tigers clawed back into the game, Chambliss and the Ole Miss offense started to slow down.

But then, when the Rebels needed Chambliss most, after the Tigers had tied the game and starting running back Kewan Lacy was sidelined with a shoulder injury, the quarterback stood tall. On the drive that culminated in his touchdown run to stake Ole Miss to a 32-24 lead, Chambliss completed 6-of-8 passes for 62 yards. Including his 14-yard touchdown run, Chambliss accounted for 76 of the yards on what was officially a 75-yard drive, which included a holding penalty.

Here is that touchdown run that sent Vaught-Hemingway Stadium into bedlam:

Speaking after the game Pete Golding, Chambliss’ new head coach, highlighted his quarterback’s competitive greatness.

He’s a fierce competitor. Y’all know that and have seen that for a long time. When we talk about competitive greatness, being at your best when your best is needed, that’s him. Our guys believe in him. He probably wants a couple throws back, but he made the ones when he had to. He doesn’t get too high or too low; he’s steady. I said that this morning on GameDay: I don’t care what level you coach; if you don’t have a quarterback, good luck. We’ve got a good one, and he’s a good dude. I’m super grateful.

Some of the players on the other side of the field gave Chambliss his just due after the game, starting with LSU linebacker Whit Weeks, on what is so tough playing against him:

I think we say tonight, his versatility. He’s a ball player, at the end of the day, we knew that going into it. He made more plays than we did.

And also safety Ty Benefield:

Props to him. He is really good at what he does. Like you said he extends plays. I got to play better, everyone has to play better but I am going to take that one.

As is the case anytime a college quarterback becomes a national talking point, the conversation soon turns to the player’s NFL prospects. That is just how things go in the football world. Chambliss will certainly face question marks as he embarks on an NFL journey, starting with his beginnings at Division II Ferris State, his age, and his size.

But what continues to stand out watching Chambliss is his willingness to, and success when, attacking the middle of the field in the passing game.

Take his first touchdown pass of the night, this strike over the middle to Traylon Ray:

These are the types of plays that will definitely serve his evaluation well.

There is also the creativity that Chambliss brings to the table, that the football world again saw on Saturday night:

Or this beautiful throw on the move, fitting the ball over a pair of defenders while rolling to his right:

Then of course there is how Chambliss ended the night — and perhaps took that title of main character — in this post-game moment that immediately went viral:

Chambliss later apologized for the moment, admitting that the emotions of the night got the better of him:

Emotions were high, that’s the best play in football being in victory formation. My emotions were high for the game, and I kind of got caught up in the moment with the interview. That’s not who I am with the interview. I’m deeply apologetic to Holly Rowe and everyone out there who was listening, and that’s not who I am so I’m sorry about that.

Speaking after the game, Chambliss did conceded that it was an emotional night, and that he was happy this game was behind him and the Rebels:

Yeah, this one meant a lot more than the other games. I mean, the coaches that were here are now at LSU, some players as well. So a little bit more to it. So yeah, I’m really happy we got the win. I wanted this one really bad, and our team did too. So, just proud of them and so happy we got the win.

Yeah, finally got that one out of the way. I feel like we’ve been hearing and talking about this game all offseason. So proud of our team. So glad we got the win.

His former coach had some thoughts as well on the Ole Miss passer:

Yeah we were pretty conservative on him early. Tried to keep the score in front of us, tried to give him some softer looks, and he did a really good job. Guys made plays for them in the receiving game too. He’s hard to defend, and a lot of people haven’t beat him. So we let this one get away because I feel like we came back, had momentum, and let them go down and score. On the touchdown, we have a guy out there and Trinidad outruns him. Even with that, I felt like we were in a good position to go down and score and get a two-point conversion. It took a lot of time to get there, so he [Chambliss] wasn’t going to get the ball back. The hope was to get it to overtime. We wouldn’t have given them much time because again, you can’t leave Trinidad with any time especially with their kicker.

Chambliss and the Rebels won a game on Saturday night, one that has been circled for months on everyone’s college football character.

And in that win, the quarterback made himself the sport’s main character.

At least until our next great Kiffin moment.