Ole Miss wins Magnolia Bowl, sends LSU home with first loss

Who would have ever thought Trinidad Chambliss and the Ole Miss defense would have led the way for an Ole Miss win over No. 4 LSU to get to 5-0? Not many analysts or experts but the Rebel faithful knew it was possible, and the 2025 version of the Magnolia Bowl went to Ole Miss in a 24-19 win.

What a damn game for Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss (5-0, 3-0 SEC) on Saturday afternoon in Oxford – the defense held LSU (4-1, 1-1 SEC) to 254 total yards of offense while it piled up 480 yards against what was promoted to be one of the best defenses in the country.

This was the first time these two teams met in this series with undefeated records since 1959. All the hype, all the assumed heartbreak… nah, Kiffin and Co. got this.

An extremely, very nail-bitingly CRUCIAL fourth down call in the final minutes of the game was successful for the sixth year coach as Chambliss found a wide ass open Dae’Quan Wright on fourth and three to ice the game. This was one of those decisions where Kiffin could have trotted out Lucas Carneiro who is a helluva kicker to give the Rebels a potential 27-19 lead with a hypothetical 52 yard field goal.

But the visor wearin’, hot yoga stretchin’, high flyin’, wheelin’ dealin’ son of a gun put the ball in the hands of his best playmaker over the last three weeks, Chambliss, and let his offensive scheme put that final touch on a win.

At times this game looked bleak, LSU took a 7-0 lead and seemed primed defensively to stop Ole Miss through the first quarter. The second quarter was all Rebels as Ole Miss scored two touchdowns to hold a 17-7 halftime advantage going into the break.

The second half was more anxiety producing than anything else, but the slower tempo of the game favored the home field advantaged Rebels who looked to protect a two score lead going into the fourth quarter at 24-13. For one of the few times I can remember in Kiffin’s tenure, his offense maintained a time of possession advantage with more than 32 minutes with the ball in the game, stifling LSU’s chances of a comeback.

There’s three big things that stand out from this game – Chambliss, the Rebels defense, and the penalties. Chambliss threw for 314 yards, one TD and one INT plus 71 rushing yards in the game, which was MASSIVE. The defense as previously mentioned played by far its best game of the season holding the LSU rushing attack to a paltry 57 yards where I think the Tiger coaching staff thought it would succeed.

Then there was the 14 penalties for more than 100 yards against the Rebels. Hey, it didn’t cost Ole Miss the game but it sure as hell seemed like it would at some point. The officials had some inconsistent calls, it was beyond frustrating, but it all worked out in the end. Done with that.

Ole Miss is now on a bye week until it hosts Washington State on Oct. 11 in Oxford. Kickoff is set for 11:45 a.m. CT. But for tonight… it’s great to be an Ole Miss Rebel, buy all the cold beers on the square, let the Tiger fans know they don’t just come into Vaught Hemingway and come out with a win any more. It’s Ole Miss on top again in Oxford, Hotty Toddy Gosh Almighty, Hell Yeah Damn Right… lets go Rebels!