OXFORD, Miss. — Coach Lane Kiffin’s new football team at LSU couldn’t deny Trinidad Chambliss — the dual-threat quarterback Kiffin helped transform into a Southeastern Conference and national star after recruiting him to Ole Miss last year from a Division II program in Michigan.
Chambliss passed for 363 yards and two touchdowns and ran for a tiebreaking score in the fourth quarter, and the eighth-ranked Rebels delighted a home crowd that was already revved up about Kiffin’s return, beating the seventh-ranked Tigers 32-24 on Saturday night at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
“I’m glad it’s over. This was an emotional game for a lot of reasons,” said Kiffin, who spent the past six seasons at Oxford before heading to Baton Rouge last November just after the regular season. “A lot of life-changing experiences here. A lot of really good people that helped me through some really hard times.
“Sometimes I don’t act like it, but I’m a human, too. Congrats to those guys. They played really well. They deserved to win.”
In the SEC opener for the border rivals, LSU stormed back from a 24-7 halftime deficit to tie the game before Chambliss engineered a 75-yard touchdown drive without the services of top running back Kewan Lacy, who left the game with an injured left shoulder.