Last Ole Miss national title QB talks Trinidad Chambliss, Lane Kiffin, CFP

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As Glynn Griffing watches Trinidad Chambliss take snaps for Ole Miss in the College Football Playoff, he thinks back to his days as quarterback for the Rebels.

Griffing, 85, now lives in Madison and has something in common with Chambliss.

They both earned similar honors at the Sugar Bowl. Chambliss was the Offensive MVP of Rebels’ dramatic victory over Georgia last week while Griffing earned Most Outstanding Player recognition in an Ole Miss win against Arkansas in the 1963 Sugar Bowl.

Griffing completed 14-of-23 passes for a then-Sugar Bowl record 242 yards in that game.

Last week, Griffing watched with great interest as Chambliss picked apart the Georgia Bulldogs to lead the Rebels in what might have been the most important victory in Ole Miss history.

The No. 6 Rebels (13-1) now take on No. 10 Miami (12-2) in the CFP semifinals on Jan. 8 (6:30 p.m. CT, ESPN) at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. If they win, they’ll play Indiana or Oregon in the national championship in Miami on Jan. 19.

Lane Kiffin left Ole Miss to take the LSU coaching job on Nov. 30, and Pete Golding was promoted from defensive coordinator to take his place. Golding is now 2-0 at the helm of Ole Miss.

60 years later

As one might expect, Griffing says his days as an Ole Miss quarterback were quite different than what Chambliss is going through now.

“When we played Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl, it really was just another game. We won the ball game and that was it,” Griffing told the Clarion Ledger. “We didn’t come back to Oxford to any parades or anything. It’s just a totally different world.”

In fact, Griffing said he and his Rebels teammates didn’t even know they were awarded a slice of the national championship until they “read it in the paper,” even though Ole Miss finished with an unbeaten 10-0 record. That is still the only perfect season in Ole Miss history. Ole Miss was ranked No. 1 by the Litkenhous Ratings System, while Southern Cal shared the title after being ranked No. 1 by the Associated Press.

While Griffing modestly downplays some of his accomplishments as a All-American QB at Ole Miss, it is important to note he is a member of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and the Ole Miss Sports Hall of Fame. He took home Atlanta TD Club’s SEC Back of the Year in his final season. He also helped a team of College All-Stars to a stunning upset of the NFL Champion Green Bay Packers in an exhibition game. 

During his career, the Rebels posted a record of 39-3-4 with a pair of Sugar Bowl wins and a trip to the Cotton Bowl. Griffing was drafted in the fourth round by the New York Giants and would later retire from the NFL to enter private business. Two other Ole Miss quarterbacks would later make a name with the Giants — Eli Manning and Jaxson Dart.

“Like everything else, it was all so different then,” Griffing said. “Winning those games was important to us, but it seems like no one outside of Oxford in the rest of the country really cared much about it. We loved playing the game and that was it. We loved our guys on the team and Coach (Johnny) Vaught. It really was just about a love for football. I did get a trip to New York for the Look All-American team. That was real nice, but that was about it. That’s just the way life was back then.”

He pointed to coaching bonuses as a way things are so much different in 2026 versus 1962.

“I think the coaches may get a $500,000 bonus for a bowl win like last week,” Griffing said. “But I seem to remember Coach Vaught got a black angus bull after we beat Arkansas and I think the most he ever made was $25,000 a year. But the thing I remember was that bull.”

What about Trinidad Chambliss?

Griffing said he watched in amazement as Chambliss took over the game against Georgia last week to lead the Rebels to the win.

“My gosh, he was outstanding,” Griffing said. “I don’t know that I have seen anybody play as well as he played the other day. It’s going to be hard to do that again, but I think we can play with (Miami). I don’t think there’s any doubt about that. I don’t know how Pete got them together, but boy he did and they had so much more fire than they did when they played them the first time. It was unreal. They really wanted Georgia this time. It’s really weird.”

What about Lane Kiffin?

Griffing was honest about Kiffin and his departure from Ole Miss to LSU in recent weeks, and believes the Rebels may be better off in the long run.

“He really wasn’t ever one of my favorites, but I certainly didn’t think he would ever walk out of team going into the playoffs,” Griffing said. “I guess that’s just the way it goes and he had to do what he had to do, and he is paying the price for it now. I never thought the national media would jump on him like they have, but boy they have gotten on him.”

Griffing said he met Kiffin on one occasion, but the former Ole Miss coach was not particularly personable toward him.

“That’s just his personality, I guess,” Griffin said. “At least that’s what people tell me.”

What about Pete Golding?

Griffing said has never met Golding, but he believes, based on what others tell him, that he really is a people person.

“Everyone just seems to think the world of him. I am told he is strictly for the guys in the locker room,” Griffing said. “He is going to do whatever he can to get them to do what they can for them benefit of themselves. He is more about them than he is for himself.”

Ross Reily is a writer for the Clarion Ledger, part of the USA TODAY Network. He can be reached at rreily@gannett.com or 601-573-2952. You can follow him on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter @GreenOkra1.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Former Ole Miss QB believes Rebels can beat Miami in CFP

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