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Ole Miss seals it with INT of LSU on 4th and goal (0:46)

Leave it up to Lane Kiffin to be dramatic.

For much of Kiffin's hotly anticipated return to Ole Miss on Saturday, his LSU Tigers looked overwhelmed. Like the moment was too big. The Rebels raced out to a 17-0 lead and took a 24-7 advantage into halftime. It was everything people in Oxford had dreamed about for months.

The villain had returned, and Ole Miss was getting its revenge.

But the fairy tale didn't come without a cruel twist.

LSU roared back in the second half, erasing the 17-point deficit by the 11:21 mark of the fourth quarter and filling Vaught-Hemingway Stadium with anxiety in the process.

For a group of players who had endured more than its share of adversity over the previous nine months, this was another moment they were ready for. With their old coach celebrating wildly on the opposite sideline, Ole Miss absorbed the blows and hit back.

Quarterback Trinidad Chambliss -- whom Kiffin was credited with helping turn into a star a year earlier after plucking him from Division II Ferris State -- scored on a 14-yard run with 6:14 left. Ole Miss added the two-point conversion to stretch the lead to eight.

The game, of course, was nowhere close to over.

LSU answered with a methodical drive, marching 69 yards on 13 plays before facing fourth-and-goal from the 6. But on the 14th play, quarterback Sam Leavitt's pass was tipped at the line and intercepted by Ja'Keem Jackson in the end zone, sending Oxford into a frenzy.

For Ole Miss, it was a statement that what Kiffin built could survive without him.

At least for one night.

The real test will come over the rest of this season and in the years that follow. But as a first chapter in what could become one of college football's most compelling new rivalries, Ole Miss-Kiffin delivered.

Elsewhere, the sport provided another reminder of why it can be so difficult to look away, as the ridiculous has a way of feeling inevitable. Every Saturday, there are several games that look like foregone conclusions -- and that mostly holds true. But enough of them veer off course to keep everyone coming back.

The sport might seem professional football now in every meaningful sense, but it still isn't the NFL, and for those of us who prefer absurdity with our sports, we are thankful. The NFL can keep its sure tackling, flawless fundamentals and generally superior level of play. College football gives us blown assignments, coaches who bail before the playoff, heavy favorites suddenly fighting for their lives and, every so often, a finish so ridiculous that it becomes difficult to explain how a group of people who have spent their entire lives around football allowed it to happen.

This takes us to Nashville, Tennessee, where we can congratulate NC State on delivering one of the most inexplicable losses that will ever take place. With six seconds left and a 31-28 lead, QB CJ Bailey seemingly tried to take a safety in the end zone. Instead, he fumbled the ball, and Vanderbilt recovered it for a touchdown and walked away with the win.

SMU-Louisville, one of only two games between ranked teams on the day, remained close throughout before Louisville won 41-31, but it was hard to stay locked in with potential disasters brewing elsewhere in the 3 p.m. ET viewing window.

Two weeks after Rutgers bottomed out against UMass, USC went to Piscataway, New Jersey, a three-touchdown favorite, yet somehow made the Scarlet Knights look more competent than UMass did.

Rutgers managed just 346 total yards and 27 on the ground against UMass. Against USC, it went for 460 yards and 168 on the ground. Rutgers fell behind 30-7 to UMass; it remained within striking distance against USC before losing 42-35.

And just when it looked like USC had finally escaped, the Trojans fumbled the snap in the victory formation, resulting in a replay review, briefly raising the possibility they might one-up NC State.

Only two weeks removed from its wake-up call against Western Michigan, Michigan spent much of its first half sleepwalking against a UTEP team that had lost 51-0 to Oklahoma -- the same Oklahoma team Michigan beat 17-10 last week. UTEP led 14-7 late in the second quarter before the Wolverines finally woke up to win 52-17 in a game that will likely make Michigan fans less optimistic about what is to come.

Alabama fans also weren't thrilled for a spell in the Tide's game against Florida State, booing the play-calling in the first half. But, like Michigan, the Tide responded emphatically on their way to a 50-36 win.

A week after getting blasted by Alabama, unranked Kentucky went to College Station and took down No. 9 Texas A&M, 31-21.

All of this on a day when Missouri celebrated its 1960 national championship -- a title the school didn't officially claim until last month, after the U.S. Senate passed a resolution recognizing its case.

Just another day in college football.

Jump to:
NC State's wild turnover
Florida moves to 3-0
Early favorite for Heisman
Closing bell

Wild ending in Nashville

Up 31-28 with six seconds left, NC State coach Dave Doeren sent his offense on the field on fourth down at its own 5-yard line to end the game. The guidance, it appeared, was for quarterback CJ Bailey to back into the endzone (logical), run some clock (logical) and attempt to end the game (logical). But that plan should have come with some important instructions: Do not fumble. If anyone comes close to you, just take a knee.

This is just ... common sense.

If NC State would have just taken a safety, the chances that Vanderbilt would have then proceeded to score a touchdown would have been nearly nonexistent. The game would have been, essentially, won.

I could even be convinced Bailey should have taken a five-step drop and launched the ball as high and as far as he possibly could, theoretically allowing the final seconds to disappear the way you sometimes see at the end of basketball games. (Oklahoma State tried something similar in 2016 and was called for intentional grounding.)

But even that carries far more risk than simply running out of the back of the end zone or taking a knee. If the pass falls incomplete with time left, Vanderbilt suddenly has a chance at a chip-shot field goal to tie it. There's the possibility of an interception and it exposes Bailey to getting hit and, gasp, fumbling in the end zone.

The blocking on the play was atrocious, but it shouldn't have mattered.

Doeren and Bailey share responsibility here. The coach is ultimately responsible for making sure his players understand the situational strategy and exactly what can -- and absolutely cannot -- happen on the play.

"It's just a play where you roll out and you don't get tackled, you try to burn as much time as you can and then fall to the ground and protect the football," Doeren said. "He got hit, and he didn't protect the football."

But Bailey isn't some freshman seeing the field for the first time. He has been starting games at NC State for three years. He's presumably well compensated. He has been playing football for most of his life.

For a quarterback with that much experience to fail to secure the football in that situation is simply baffling.

Vanderbilt deserves some credit here, of course. It would have been easy for the players to be deflated knowing the application of basic football strategy would win the game for NC State, but they didn't concede that outcome. Miles Capers punched the ball loose and Cayden Daniels was there to fall on it, somehow converting a sure loss into a win.

Sumrall passes first test as Florida coach

For all the headlines Kiffin made when he took another job after leading a team to the playoff last year, it's easy to forget there were two others.

But neither Jon Sumrall at Tulane nor Bob Chesney at James Madison faced the same scrutiny when they left for Florida and UCLA, respectively. Those moves created difficult dynamics of their own as both coaches stayed with their programs for the playoff while balancing new obligations, just with far less animosity and drama.

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Florida Gators vs. Auburn Tigers: Full Highlights

Sumrall passed his first major test with the Gators on Saturday, opening SEC play with a 44-39 win at Auburn. Last year, Florida never scored more than 29 in an SEC game and was held to 20 or fewer points in five of eight conference games.

The Gators are 3-0 for the first time since 2019. The vibes are good. But now it's about to get real. Over their next six games, the Gators are set to play five ranked teams, including three that started this week in the top 10: No. 8 Ole Miss, No. 1 Texas and No. 2 Georgia. Sumrall has made a positive first impression and cautious optimism feels appropriate.

Mensah is the Heisman favorite

When Darian Mensah announced he was leaving Duke for Miami in the offseason -- and would be bringing his top receiver, Cooper Barkate, with him -- the Hurricanes solidified their standing as a national title contender. After reaching the title game last season, the Hurricanes would have been expected to be in the mix regardless of who ended up as QB1, but Mensah was as close to a sure thing that was on the market. After leading Duke the ACC championship last year, while throwing for 3,973 yards and 34 touchdowns, Mensah has managed to up his performance just three games into this season. Right now, he is the Heisman favorite.

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Darian Mensah, Miami take down Wake Forest 33-20

The obvious disclaimer here is that the quality of opposition in the first two games was rough: Stanford is a bottom-tier ACC team and Florida A&M probably doesn't have a player who would crack the two-deep at Miami. Wake Forest, though, represented a true test. Under coach Jake Dickert, the Demon Deacons won 11 of their past 16 games and are a well-disciplined team, especially on defense. So, after completing 41 of 45 passes in the first two games, all Mensah did was complete his first 24 passes Friday night, setting an ACC record for consecutive completions (he was two shy of the FBS record). Including the end of the FAMU game, Mensah completed 35 straight passes, which was also two shy of the FBS record.

Through three games, he has thrown for 873 yards and 11 touchdowns, with no interceptions and a completion percentage of 89.9%. It's clearly an unsustainable pace -- right? -- and it's reasonable to want to see how he looks against better competition, but Miami's schedule isn't filled with landmines. Mensah is going to have a chance to put up huge numbers, and even though the Hurricanes showed some vulnerability in the second half, they look like a heavy favorite in the ACC. The part that might hold back Mensah's Heisman chances is that he might not actually be the best player on his own offense. That distinction, depending on your predilections, could belong to receiver Malachi Toney, who has 28 catches for 444 yards and five scores. Either way, they are a special duo.

The closing bell

Buy: International games

As someone who has paid almost unjustifiable prices to watch preseason friendlies between European soccer teams on multiple occasions in the United States, I like the concept of these international college football games. Yes, it takes away a home game -- and that's a valid reason to come down against them -- but there is something worthwhile about putting one of America's great institutions on display abroad. College football is such a uniquely American thing that giving people in other countries a chance to experience that firsthand is good -- especially since we benefit from sports from other countries regularly coming to our shores.

That said, the unlicensed -- I assume -- scarf game could be better.

Sell: This field goal attempt

This was hard to watch. Even harder after seeing an Ole Miss student win $1 million by making the "Kicking is Easy" contest on "College GameDay" look, well, easy.

Hold: Notre Dame

Make it 13 in a row for the Irish after their 27-10 against Michigan State. With Purdue, North Carolina and Stanford on tap, they might be on cruise control for a while.

Buy: Jeremiah Smith

His stock can't conceivably get much higher, but just three games into his junior year, Smith is Ohio State's all-time receiving yardage leader with 2,958 yards. By the time his season is over, he'll likely surpass 4,000 yards, putting him in rarified air. There are only 24 players in FBS history to crack the 4,000-yard receiving mark and all of them except one -- Louisiana Tech's Troy Edwards -- played at least four seasons.

Sell: Texas Tech

Call this an overreaction. That's fair. Tech just won an in-state game against a ranked opponent (Houston Cougars). But through three games, it would be hard to watch the Red Raiders and not conclude they've regressed. There isn't another ranked team on the schedule, so there is a pathway to a special season, but there is a lot of room for improvement.

Hold: Georgia

The Dawgs won by 60, 50 and easily handled Arkansas 45-17. We'll have a better sense of where they are next week when Oklahoma comes to town.

Buy: Utah

3-0. Three dominant wins. The Morgan Scalley era is off to the seamless start the administration was hoping for in the post-Kyle Whittingham era, even with the offseason transition being anything but. Since QB Devon Dampier arrived last year from New Mexico, the Utes are 14-2.

Sell: Oregon scheduling Portland State

We dinged Miami in this space last week for the same reason, but it's worth repeating: A national title contender should not be playing an FCS opponent. Full stop. Portland State is cash-strapped so it was willing to take just $590,000 to step into the ring for an 84-0 beating.