Lane Kiffin's Surprising Record vs. Top 25 Teams Updated After LSU Loss to Ole Miss in Revenge Game

While LSU's Lane Kiffin is one of the most notable head coaches in college football, Saturday's loss to Ole Miss continued his struggles against ranked opponents.

As insider Brennon Chapman noted, Kiffin is now 13-26 against Top 25 foes in his career after Ole Miss got revenge on its former coach with a 32-24 victory. Percentage-wise that means he is below Illinois' Bret Bielema and tied with Houston Nutt:

Kiffin is far from the only coach who struggles against Top 25 competition.

Coming into the season, Brad Crawford of CBS Sports examined how coaches perform in such games and noted only 10 Power Four coaches in the entire country had a .500 or better career winning percentage against ranked opponents.

That included a handful of national champion coaches, including Georgia's Kirby Smart, Indiana's Curt Cignetti, Ohio State's Ryan Day and Clemson's Dabo Swinney.

Kiffin is still looking for his first national championship as a head coach, and it wouldn't be surprising if he had LSU competing for one in the near future given his ability to recruit top-end talent. He brought in 247Sports' top-ranked transfer class ahead of his first season and will have more time to reshape the roster in his image in the coming years.

But elevating to that level will eventually require more success against Top 25 foes than he has enjoyed during a career that featured previous stops with Tennessee, USC, Florida Atlantic and Ole Miss.

Winning at Ole Miss was always going to be a daunting task. The crowd was raucous well before kickoff as the Rebels welcomed back the head coach who left them for their conference rivals before last season's College Football Playoff.

LSU Tigers - Ole Miss Rebels Highlights

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Kiffin himself told reporters his team "walked into a storm" with how intense the crowd was, which surely helped Ole Miss jump out to a 24-7 halftime lead.

That put LSU in comeback mode for the entirety of the second half, but it drew even at 24 in the fourth quarter behind the play of quarterback Sam Leavitt. Just when it seemed like Kiffin's team had all the momentum, though, Trinidad Chambliss directed a 13-play, 75-yard drive that he capped off with a 14-yard touchdown run with fewer than seven minutes remaining.

Leavitt threw an interception on LSU's ensuing possession, setting off a celebration that will long be remembered at Ole Miss.

Chambliss was brilliant with 363 passing yards and three total touchdowns, which was too much for his former coach to overcome in yet another loss to a ranked opponent.