Florida’s upset bid at Ole Miss falls short as Lane Kiffin’s Rebels keep alive CFP hopes

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OXFORD, Miss. — With little left to play for, the Florida Gators tried to play spoiler.

Once again, the target was Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin. This time, though, his team rallied for a 34-24 come-from-behind win to keep alive its CFP hopes in what could be his final home game with the Rebels.

The Gators arrived as two-touchdown underdogs amid a head coaching search and with Kiffin in their sights. But after his team picked up a 10th win for the third consecutive season, an Ole Miss first, Kiffin was focused on getting the Rebels to their first CFP.

For much of Saturday night at sold-out Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, things appeared bleak for the No. 7 Rebels (10-1, 6-1 SEC).

But a 59-yard run by tailback Kewan Lacy on the final play of a scoreless third quarter set up his 1-yard run for a 27-24 lead. The Gators (3-7, 2-5) responded behind resurgent quarterback DJ Lagway to reach the Rebels’ 30. But facing third-and-five, the struggling sophomore’s pass was tipped by edge rusher Suntarine Perkins and into the hands of safety Wydett Williams Jr.

A week after he was benched after he threw three interceptions, Lagway bounced back a bit, finishing 16 of 31 for 218 yards, including a 57-yard touchdown to J.Michael Sturdivant to give UF a 21-17 lead.

Lagway had a chance to be a hero after the Gators stopped Ole Miss inside the 5-yard line, trailing 27-24 with 2:42 remaining.

Consecutive incompletions by Rebels quarterback Trinidad Chambliss gave the Gators the ball on their 3, the second time Ole Miss was inside the UF 5 but failed to score points.

Lagway and Co. could not dig their way out. An incompletion on fourth-and-9 set up a 4-yard touchdown run on first down by Lacy, who finished with 224 rushing yards and three touchdowns to give him a school-record 19.

Before outscoring Florida 14-0 in the fourth, Ole Miss had been on the ropes against a team with an interim head coach, Billy Gonzales, and coming off a 31-point loss.

The Gators also had lost 18 straight games on the road, while Ole Miss had lost once in 21 games at home since the start of the 2023 season.

Kiffin’s team suffered a 24-17 loss at the Swamp last November against a surging Florida team playing on Senior Day in one of college football’s toughest environments. During entirely different circumstances Saturday night in Oxford, the Rebels did not squander their season again.

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