Perhaps there was a little bias involved, given that it involved his former team in the College Football Playoff semifinals, but Lane Kiffin wasn’t thrilled by the lack of a pass interference call on the final Hail Mary of Ole Miss’ Fiesta Bowl loss Thursday.
“Pass interference,” Kiffin, now the head coach at LSU after bolting for a massive contract after the regular season, wrote on X while adding a hundred points emoji and three exclamation points.
In an earlier post, Kiffin also described the Ole Miss campaign as the “best season ever in the history of Ole Miss.”
“Amazing effort and grit,” Kiffin wrote, adding a crying face emoji and including a GIF of a breaking heart. “… love guys.”
Trinidad Chambliss’ final pass attempt to wideout De’Zhaun Stribling in the end zone fell incomplete, but Miami defensive back Ethan O’Connor appeared to grab Stribling as the two tore down the sideline.
When a referee didn’t throw a flag, the Rebels’ last-minute chance at a comeback — with Chambliss completing 23- and 17-yard passes moments after the Hurricanes took a 31-27 lead with 18 seconds remaining — fell short.
ESPN officiating analyst Bill LeMonnier said the no-call was the right decision, according to The Athletic, but broadcasting analyst Kirk Herbstreit said, “I’m sure Ole Miss fans will be talking about that one for a long time.”
“Those situations are tough to call them,” new Ole Miss head coach Pete Golding told reporters. “There was definitely contact. It happens a lot.”
Chambliss, in what could be his final collegiate game, threw a touchdown pass to Dae’Quan Wright with just over three minutes left to give Ole Miss a three-point lead, but Carson Beck then drove the Hurricanes down the field and rushed for a three-yard touchdown with 18 seconds left.
So Chambliss had one final chance to keep the Rebels’ storybook postseason run — with their initial coach now with an SEC rival, with so many questions about the availability of other coaches following Kiffin to the Tigers — alive for at least one more game.
His final throw gave them, and Stribling, a chance, too.
But when the fall fell to the turf at State Farm Stadium and the pass interference went uncalled, Ole Miss was left with a bit of a what-if.
