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Lane Kiffin turned out to be a big winner on Saturday even though he didn’t coach a game.
The Ole Miss Rebels defeated the Tulane Green Wave in the first round of the College Football Playoff. The Rebels’ win gave Kiffin a $250,000 payday thanks to the terms of his departure from the program to take the LSU Tigers job.
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LSU new head coach Lane Kiffin speaks at South Stadium Club at Tiger Stadium on Dec. 1, 2025. (Matthew Hinton/Imagn Images)
LSU agreed to pay his playoff bonuses if Ole Miss continued to win in the Playoff, according to CBS Sports. If the Rebels make a run and win the national championship, Kiffin could be looking at a bonus of up to $1 million.
Ole Miss cruised to a 41-10 win over Tulane. Rebels quarterback Trinidad Chambliss was banged up but still managed to finish with three touchdowns in the win – two rushing scores and one passing touchdown.
Kiffin offered his congratulations to Ole Miss for their win.
Tulane football coach Jon Sumrall, left, and Mississippi football coach Pete Golding confer prior to the College Football Playoff game, Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025, in Oxford, Mississippi. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
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“Congrats to all the coaches and players @OleMissFB and especially @CoachGolding and seeing his 2 boys on the sidelines,” Kiffin wrote on X. “Great win today.”
It was Pete Golding’s first win as the head coach at Ole Miss. With the pressure on Golding’s shoulders to step out of the shadow of Kiffin, he said it was helpful to have players who “actually enjoy playing together, and they don’t want it to end.”
Ole Miss defensive coordinator Bryan Brown had high praise for Golding’s “swag.”
Lane Kiffin replaces Brian Kelly as head coach on Dec. 1, 2025. (Matthew Hinton/Imagn Images)
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“He controls the room. He controls the narrative in anything that he wants to control,” Brown said. “The guys believe in him just like they do defensively, and you can see it turning over to our full team. He just is a great human being, great coach, great motivator… and is going to be a heck of a coach for a long, long time.”
Fox News’ Chantz Martin contributed to this report.
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