Next fall, Lane Kiffin will be leading LSU football—the pride of the state of Louisiana. The first big win of 2026 on the Bayou, however, belongs to his former team, Ole Miss, which scored an impressive upset of Georgia at the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans to advance to the College Football Playoff semifinal.
Kiffin, of course, could have been part of that win against the Bulldogs, had he not opted to leave at the end of the regular season for the job in Baton Rouge, despite his Rebels being CFP bound—a first for the program. With Kiffin gone, new coach Pete Golding, who was elevated from defensive coordinator, has led Ole Miss to the first two CFP wins in program history, including a revenge game against a Georgia team that beat the Kiffin-led Rebels 43–35 in Athens, Ga., during the regular season.
Only Kiffin knows where his true rooting interests lay after a messy breakup with Mississippi, but publicly, he remains very supportive of his former program. On Thursday, Kiffin remained in Baton Rouge for a Rebels women’s basketball game, but was locked in on the end of the Sugar Bowl, tweeting—as he has so often this season—a Trinidad flag emoji in honor of Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss before posting a pair of pictures that appeared to show family members watching the game from a box.
More: Three Reasons Why Ole Miss Can Still Win a National Championship Without Lane Kiffin
What a great finish!!! So much fun!! Only two more to go @OleMissFB 🇹🇹 🪄 🏆 #BTA pic.twitter.com/axTTTHP5pO
— Lane Kiffin (@Lane_Kiffin) January 2, 2026
The post has not gone over well with the Ole Miss faithful, but Kiffin has plenty of reason to keep supporting his former school, even beyond any lingering loyalty.
Thanks to a contract stipulation with LSU, Kiffin will be paid the CFP bonuses he eschewed by leaving the Rebels program; the win over Georgia bumps that bonus to $500,000 for Ole MIss reaching the semifinal, and he’ll make $1 million if the Rebels win the national title.
Next up for Kiffin’s former program: a date with No. 10 seed Miami at the Fiesta Bowl next Thursday. Expect plenty more Trinidad flags on Kiffin’s X account before the CFP comes to an end.
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- Ole Miss Moves on From Lane Kiffin and Closer to National Title in CFP Shocker
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Lane Kiffin Reacts to Ole Miss’s Epic Upset of Georgia in Sugar Bowl.
