Forget Lane Kiffin, and put some respect on this ‘awesome’ Ole Miss run

• Trinidad Chambliss promised Ole Miss wouldn’t be distracted in Egg Bowl. Promises made, promises kept.
• Rebels deserve first-round College Football Playoff home game, even if Lane Kiffin accepts LSU job.
• As Lane Kiffin decision deadline nears, Ole Miss shreds Mississippi State.

Commission the statue.

Mississippi quarterback Trinidad Chambliss has earned his place in bronze.

What, did you think I meant a statue for the coach? Better hold off on that one.

Who knows where Lane Kiffin will be when the College Football Playoff begins, but, as long as Chambliss is wearing the No. 6 jersey for Ole Miss — some jersey bandits apparently tried to prevent that — the Rebels are a force to be reckoned with in the playoff.

Ole Miss put the College Football Playoff selection committee on notice with this 38-19 shredding of rival Mississippi State in the Egg Bowl. That’s the most lopsided Egg Bowl outcome of the Kiffin era.

Just as Chambliss promised, the Rebels didn’t look distracted, just determined.

‘What an awesome day,’ Kiffin told reporters after the win.

Kiffin’s weeks-long flirtations with other jobs never derailed the Rebels’ quest for their first CFP bid.

At 11-1, they’ve earned the right to host a first-round home playoff game — no matter who’s coaching them in the playoff.

Kiffin’s done a remarkable job elevating this program. That’s why he’s in such demand, but spare me the absurd notion that the CFP committee ought to consider deflating the Rebels’ seeding if Kiffin accepts the LSU job.

CFP should not punish Ole Miss for Lane Kiffin’s flirtations

CFP selection rules allow the committee to adjust a team’s seeding if a coach’s absence is “likely” to affect a team’s playoff performance. If LSU hires Kiffin, the Ole Miss administration has a choice to make for the playoff. Kiffin wants to coach the postseason, no matter what he decides about his future. Ole Miss could let him coach the playoff, even as he prepares to exit for an SEC rival, or it could appoint an interim coach.

How do we know either of those developments would “likely” negatively affect Ole Miss’ playoff performance? We don’t.

As playoff selection committee chairman Hunter Yurachek said recently, the committee lacks a data point for what Ole Miss would look like without Kiffin. Without that data point, how could this committee justify seeding Ole Miss any lower than No. 7 in the bracket? It couldn’t.

Already, Ole Miss overcame an injury to starting quarterback Austin Simmons. The Rebels got better with Chambliss at the controls. The magnetic Division II transfer supplied 385 yards of total offense in his Egg Bowl debut.

‘This gives me so much joy to see them doing something like this,’ Kiffin said.

Ole Miss won five consecutive games under a cloud of speculation about Kiffin’s future.

Other than a fourth-quarter fizzling in a road loss to Georgia, nothing’s fazed these Rebels yet.

Not even a pregame heist.

Trinidad Chambliss dazzles in backup uniform after alleged heist

This one had a lot of the elements you’d expect from a heated rivalry known for zany moments. A kerfuffle broke out in the second quarter. At halftime, Kiffin criticized Mississippi State athletic director Zac Selmon for coming onto the field during that scrum.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Kiffin said on ABC.

Oh, c’mon now, that’s an exaggeration. We’ve seen anything and everything in the Egg Bowl. Three years ago, Ole Miss fans threw two folding chairs onto the field while Mississippi State players celebrated a victory.

Ah, the Egg Bowl. What mischief.

Before the game, bandits broke into the Ole Miss locker room and stole Chambliss’ No. 6 jersey, according to Kiffin.

Amid all the commotion, the Rebels didn’t pee down their leg this time.

Chambliss looked sharp in his replacement uniform, throwing for a season-high 359 yards and four touchdowns.

‘You can’t get a better story than Trinidad,’ Kiffin said.

Just one year ago, Chambliss played Thanksgiving week against Central Oklahoma in the Division II playoffs. Now, he’s inspired another playoff team. As questions on Kiffin’s future built to a crescendo, Chambliss told everyone to chill, because the Rebels got this covered.

This quarterback’s special. This season’s special. No amount of coaching carousel drama should deny this team from hosting a playoff game in Oxford.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.