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Revenge is a dish best served cold. It got awfully frosty in Oxford, Mississippi, Saturday night. 

Ole Miss let it all hang out in its reunion with former coach Lane Kiffin.

This game had a little bit of everything. Trinidad Chambliss was dynamite, firmly cementing his status as the sport’s most dangerous quarterback. The Ole Miss defense got a game-winning stop near the goal line in the waning moments to ice the 32-24 win. We even saw Rebels coach Pete Golding put his cards on the table with a gutsy two-point conversion to go up late in the game, out-Kiffin’ing Lane Kiffin. 

What did we learn from this game? 

LSU’s offense lacked the necessary pop to hang with a high-octane opposition led by Chambliss. It took time for the Tigers to get going. Sam Leavitt needed to flash his improv skills far too often. LSU looked like a team without a go-to target after star tight end Trey’Dez Green went down.

Ole Miss silenced the critics. Entering the season, this team faced identity questions with Kiffin gone. Not anymore. With Chambliss at the helm, this team can beat anyone. 

Kentucky coach Will Stein officially got his Curt Cignetti moment. 

All offseason, Stein talked a big game, boldly proclaiming this season would be different for the Wildcats because he was at the helm. Saturday afternoon, Kentucky beat Texas A&M fair and square in a 31-21 upset over the ninth-ranked Aggies. 

Down the stretch, Kentucky quarterback Kenny Minchey was cash money, finishing 14-of-18 with 252 yards and two touchdowns. The Wildcat defense also came up clutch, picking off Marcel Reed twice and holding him to 4.8 yards per attempt. 

This was a deflating loss for the Aggies. It raises plenty of questions about the viability of a Reed-led offense moving forward.

In a battle of ACC title hopefuls, Louisville came out on top in a high-flying 41-31 win over SMU. 

Louisville averaged 7.2 yards per rush, won the turnover battle 3-0, and did an excellent job of landing repeated haymakers against what we think is a formidable SMU team. 

I walked away from this game being incredibly impressed by the Cardinals’ rushing attack. The two-headed RB monster of Keyjuan Brown and Isaac Brown combined for 230 yards and three touchdowns on just 20 combined carries. If Louisville can run the ball like that, the Cardinals can beat just about any team in the ACC. 

SMU is a fun but flawed football team. Quarterback Kevin Jennings, as awesome as he can be, had three crucial turnovers. He has a tendency to do that. SMU will need to clean up the turnovers.

With the win (and the remaining schedule), it might be safe to view Louisville as the No. 2 team in the ACC behind Miami. 

I wasn’t convinced beforehand that there was much separation between Houston and Texas Tech entering Friday night’s massive Big 12 tilt. As it turns out, the difference was less than a yard. 

No. 13 Texas Tech pulled off a 28-26 win over No. 22 Houston after tackling Cougars quarterback Conner Weigman on the one-inch line on what would’ve been the game-tying two-point conversion late in the fourth quarter. 

Weigman and Texas Tech quarterback Will Hammond had good games. The contest featured a pair of wicked grabs, one by a Houston defensive back on an interception, the other by wide receiver Koby Young on an Odell Beckham-esque touchdown. 

Texas Tech’s run game changed the complexion of the game. Running backs Cameron Dickey and J’Kobi Williams combined for 127 yards and two touchdowns. Both had big runs that swung the momentum in critical moments. 

The Red Raiders retain their spot atop the Big 12 Conference. The Cougars have things to clean up defensively, but were worthy challengers. 

It wouldn’t stun me to see a rematch in the Big 12 title game in December. 

Just when you thought you’ve seen it all… something like that happened. 

ICYMI, NC State led by three points with six seconds to go in the shadow of its own end zone on fourth down. Nowhere to go, it appeared there was only one option: take a safety. 

Instead, Wolfpack quarterback CJ Bailey, who had a great day up until that point, made a disastrous decision. 

He could’ve taken a safety. He could’ve heaved the ball into the air far downfield. He could’ve taken a cat nap or filed an insurance claim. All of those options would’ve been better choices.

Instead, he took the snap, danced around in the pocket, got nailed by a Commodore defender, coughed up the football, and Vanderbilt pounced on it for the game-winning touchdown with one second remaining in a 35-31 win. The Commodores never led before that moment.

There’s nothing you can say to excuse this ending. I’m not sure Bailey can move on from that, either. This felt like the kind of thing you point to if NC State brass considers moving on from coach Dave Doeren this offseason.

NC State fans, no one would blame you if you punted on the rest of the season.

Saturday’s matchup between Mississippi State and South Carolina featured two dynamite quarterbacks in a big prove-it spot. Despite a slow start, Kamario Taylor finished with 251 passing yards and four touchdowns and willed the Bulldogs to a big-time 41-34 road victory in Williams-Brice Stadium. 

After notching a third consecutive win to open the season, Mississippi State comfortably looks like the real deal. It’s not just that the Bulldogs are 3-0; it’s that they’re finding ways to win when things get tough. 

Mississippi State survived a dangerous start, got big stops in the first half, and blew the game open offensively with a 17-point third quarter. The schedule will get tougher, but it’s hard not to love what we’re seeing so far.

South Carolina is a strange team. Sellers is box office when he’s fit and firing, but the Gamecocks clearly lack a No. 1 receiving target. That part will continue to plague them in big spots. 

Meanwhile, the Bulldogs are ranked!

Saturday’s Alabama-Florida State game featured two lengthy lightning delays, a Seminoles’ first-quarter offensive explosion, 86 combined points, and felt like it lasted two business days. 

Despite the slow start, Alabama pulled away late for a 50-36 win to apply more pressure on Mike Norvell and ramp up speculation about Tallahassee-area moving companies. 

Alabama quarterback Keelon Russell looks like a budding superstar. The defense had some Pepto-Bismol-inducing moments, but managed to create three turnovers. Take a deep breath, Bama fans. I have a feeling every game might feel like this in 2026. 

Take a bow, West Virginia!

The Mountaineers went on the road and sandblasted a good Virginia team for 247 rushing yards and three touchdowns in a big-time 38-27 win.

Michael Hawkins Jr. and Cam Cook are not-so-quietly building one of the more formidable rushing attacks in all of college football. We love to see it. 

It was a bit odd to see Virginia get bullied on the ground at home in that manner. Perhaps it was a one-game blip. Or maybe West Virginia is just that nasty. 

Regardless, Rich Rodriguez has got things going in the right direction in Morgantown. 

College Football Week 3 delivered the kind of Saturday that forces you to reconsider a few things in a hurry. We start in Oxford, where Lane Kiffin returned with LSU for a game that had been circled for months, and Ole Miss had a chance to prove just how much of the program survived his departure. We get into what the night told us about Trinidad Chambliss, the Rebels, LSU’s still-developing offense and where both teams fit in the bigger SEC and College Football Playoff picture.

Then comes the result almost nobody saw coming: Kentucky went into Kyle Field and beat Texas A&M without needing a fluky turnover fest or some bizarre special-teams swing. What does that say about Will Stein’s early progress at Kentucky, and how worried should A&M be about an offense that still seems to be searching for another gear? We also dig into Louisville’s big win over SMU, Texas Tech surviving Houston, Mississippi State’s comeback at South Carolina and the other Week 3 results that changed how we see the season.

Later, we go through your Reverbs and “Today I Learned” responses, then turn to our AP Top 25 ballot. How far should Ole Miss rise? What do we do with Texas A&M after the upset? Where do Louisville, Mississippi State, Florida, Texas Tech and BYU belong now? We finish with Dude Alerts and some of our favorite individual performances from the weekend.

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