Ole Miss Rebels HC Pete Golding keeps it all the way real when asked about Week 3 vs. Lane Kiffin and the LSU Tigers
The Ole Miss Rebels struggled against Louisville, but now they turn to Lane Kiffin and the LSU Tigers.
The Ole Miss Rebels won their season opener against the Louisville Cardinals in Nashville on Sunday night. And it got a little too close for comfort. Many thought Ole Miss would blow the Cardinals out, or at least beat them handily. Instead, they won on a walk-off field goal. Now they prepare to face an LSU Tigers team that just beat Clemson 51-10.
And we all know why Week 3 is huge, and it doesn’t have to be said. For the sake of people who may be new college football fans: Lane Kiffin, the Tigers’ head coach, was at Ole Miss last year. He left during their playoff run and took a lot of Ole Miss players and coaches with him. So, the Ole Miss side has no ill will toward LSU fans. The ill will is directed solely at the coach.
So, with all the drama heading into this week, did that maybe have an impact on Ole Miss playing the way they did in Week 1? We are all human, so we know that you can’t completely block out the noise. It’s completely normal for something that big to be on your mind.
“I could be naive, I guess, but I don’t think [the noise about LSU] had anything to do with the game,” head coach Pete Golding said after the game. “We were not overlooking Louisville at all. It wasn’t like there were days [during fall camp] that we were using [to prepare] for other people. We knew we had a lot on our hands. We only get 12 opportunities at this.”
Week 3 could be as big of a movie as Week 1 was for the Rebels
“I honestly hate these games,” QB Trinidad Chambliss said late Sunday night after the fourth-quarter chaos ensued. “I don’t know why we do this every time.”
And he’s kind of right. It does happen far too often, but it’s another reason some of these ranked matchups always feel like monumental wins. A walk-off win in Nashville, with your Heisman-level quarterback playing at an elite level; your Heisman-level running back getting hurt in the first half; and the Rebels getting their first ranked win of the season in Week 1. It doesn’t get much better than that. But we all know what’s going into Week 3.
Lane Kiffin and the Tigers appear to be favorites in this game, despite currently being the lower-ranked team at No. 11. Golding knows: win this game, and you will have some of the biggest and best momentum for the rest of the season possible. This game is huge, so let’s see how the Rebels respond.
