OXFORD, Miss. -- It has been the game everyone had circled since Lane Kiffin skipped town, but now that it's over and Ole Miss has tasted sweet revenge, Pete Golding isn't ready to turn the celebration into anything more than a one-night party.

After the Rebels' raucous 32-24 win over LSU on Saturday, Golding tried his best to keep downplaying a narrative that has chased him since he was named Kiffin's replacement last November.

"I told our team, 'I don't think anybody came here to beat LSU,'" Golding said. "That's not what our goal was coming in. Yes, is it sweet? Absolutely. Go enjoy tonight. But we've got to come back to work. ... It wasn't our Super Bowl, and we didn't make it out to be our Super Bowl."

After winning a pair of playoff games last season and starting 3-0 in 2026, Golding and Ole Miss rightly have higher aspirations. But the scene in Oxford, as its wayward son returned on the enemy's sideline, was impossible to ignore and showed the magnitude of Saturday night's showdown.

Ole Miss QB Trinidad Chambliss made a point of looking to the LSU sideline after each of his three touchdowns Saturday -- not as a slight to Kiffin, he said, but as an almost automatic response.

"There's a lot of emotions," said Chambliss, who threw for 363 yards and a pair of scores, including leading Ole Miss on a go-ahead drive with 6:14 to play. "I kind of black out in a big game. I kind of looked out; I might've been looking over to the sideline, but it's just because I'm a competitor."

In the aftermath, Chambliss ended his on-field interview with ESPN by saying "Hotty f---ing Toddy," which he later apologized for and said was another instance of his emotions getting the better of him. Then, he celebrated with the student section, marched to near midfield surrounded by a phalanx of cameras, turned and stared at the scoreboard, soaking it all in.

All week, Ole Miss preached that this was just another game.

The truth, though?

"This one meant a lot more than other games," Chambliss said. "The coaches that were here, now at LSU -- and some players as well -- we've just been looking forward to it. I wanted this one really bad."

Golding worked to downplay any larger meaning to Saturday's emotional victory, suggesting that if a head-to-head win over Kiffin represented anything more significant than another W in the standings, it would be for Kiffin to say.

Still, Golding said it was a moment of validation for an Ole Miss program that has lofty expectations now -- far higher than what Kiffin suggested this offseason, when he said 7-5 seasons would get statues built for coaches at Ole Miss.

"Since [2023], we feel like it's a failure if you're not winning 10 games," Golding said. "When I first got here, I thought if we averaged 10 a year, they'd build statues to everybody. After Year 2, it's like, national championship or bust. That's the way it should be."

National championship aspirations will also require a healthy Kewan Lacy. The Ole Miss tailback left Saturday's game early in the third quarter because of a shoulder injury, but Golding said X-rays came back negative, and Lacy suited back up with an intent to play the rest of the game.

Instead, LSU held him out as the Tigers were comfortable with JT Lindsey carrying the load. They said Lacy will be evaluated again this week to determine his availability for Florida in Week 4.

Kiffin said he left Ole Miss for LSU in pursuit of a national title, but Saturday showed that, for now at least, it's his former employer that has the inside track.

If Saturday's win wasn't about proving a point to Kiffin, Chambliss said it certainly helped open the eyes of a lot of people who've agreed with his estimation of Ole Miss' place in the pecking order.

"The whole nation kind of disrespects Ole Miss," Chambliss said. "When they compare LSU and Ole Miss, they always say LSU has more money and nicer facilities, a bigger fan base and bigger stadium. So, there's more to it than just Kiffin being on the other side of the ball."