Ole Miss had spent most of Sunday night trading punches with No. 24 Louisville. By the time the final seconds arrived in Nashville, Pete Golding’s first full season as Rebels head coach was hanging on one kick. Lucas Carneiro drilled a 48-yard field goal as time expired, giving No. 9 Ole Miss a 41-38 win and saving Golding from an opening-night loss that had started to feel very real.

One night earlier, Kiffin’s LSU Tigers topped Sunday’s football lineup as arguably the most anticipated season-opening game. His team made a far different kind of opening statement than the Rebels, as he led the Tigers to a smooth 51-10 victory against Clemson in his first game for LSU. Golding’s read on LSU was not dramatic or defensive. It was direct.

“I think they [LSU] are what everyone thought they’d be on paper,” Golding stated. 

LSU entered the season at No. 11 in the AP poll, while Ole Miss was No. 9, so Golding’s words carried more than simple praise. Kiffin had already turned the Rebels into a consistent winner, posting four 10-win seasons in six years, and LSU hired him to chase the same championship-level jump in Baton Rouge. A 51-10 win over Clemson did not settle those expectations, but it showed why they were there in the first place.

Trey Wallace, a senior college sports reporter, shared Golding’s statement in an X post. Golding and Kiffin may have worked with the Rebels together for just three years, but his assessment and prediction about the Tigers hold weight because the Ole Miss coach knows Kiffin’s playbook. 

So when the Rebels dominated an opponent of low standing from the get-go, he didn’t have to watch all four quarters. “I watched… we had one on in the team dinner after chapel, so I watched maybe two quarters of it,” he said of the September 6 game.

The 42-year-old is navigating leadership head-on in a post-Kiffin era that did not end on good terms. Golding is to host his old friend on September 19. This will be the first time Kiffin returns to Oxford since he abandoned the Rebels just before their first-ever College Football Playoff appearance last season. 

“Going to be a madhouse, an absolute madhouse, and this whole place is ready … been ready,” Golding told On3 during a wide-ranging interview. His message to Kiffin is simple: brace yourself. His exit from a 13-2 (overall) playoff team and the drama that followed left the Rebels distraught. Golding more than most. 

“I was telling him, ‘You’re a f****** idiot if you leave,’” Golding told ESPN. “I thought I could convince him to stay. And then it got real.”

After the fiasco, Congress is looking into the Protect College Sports Act, aimed at prohibiting college coaches from engaging in job talks with other colleges while their season continues. This bill is commonly referred to as the “Lane Kiffin Rule.”

Golding was happy as the Rebels’ defensive coordinator under Kiffin. The latter chose LSU’s seven-year contract worth $91 million. Yet, Golding clarified that there is no enmity or bitterness between the two. The two maintain a cordial relationship in their personal lives.

Professionally, Golding will always be pitted against Kiffin. Under the former coach, the Rebels soared. Ole Miss made five Bowl appearances and clinched a Peach Bowl victory in 2023. By taking over as the Rebels’ head coach, he has opened himself up to constant comparison over a job he didn’t want.

Regardless of what he wanted, he is leading the Rebels and is off to a decent start. This season, John David Baker is the Rebels’ offensive coordinator. Much like Golding, he, too, shares a history with Kiffin, having worked as a co-offensive coordinator in 2022 and 2023. 

Although they have Heisman Trophy contender Trinidad Chambliss leading them, the Rebels scraped by against the Cardinals. In the weeks to come, and with home-field advantage on their side, they will face the Tigers, who humiliated Clemson.