By: Colin Lacy

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

Some thought that it was a done deal on the Ole Miss bye week two weeks ago, some still think there’s a chance for Houdini-like turn, but wherever it actually was finalized on that timeline, the Lane Train is headed to Baton Rouge.

Lane Kiffin, in the midst of Ole Miss’ first appearance in the College Football Playoff, has agreed to terms with LSU to lead the Bayou Bengals as the next Head Football Coach.

Ole Miss defensive coordinator Pete Golding will take over as the Interim Head Coach for the Rebels.

The highly scrutinized exit from Oxford for the, now former, coach of the Ole Miss Rebels comes after leading Ole Miss to an 11-1 regular season mark with the only blemish coming at the hands of Georgia 43-35 in mid-October.

Many believe (at least before Kiffin’s departure) that the Rebels would be a lock for a first round home game at Vaught-Hemmingway Stadium as the Rebels were ranked #7 in the CFP Committee rankings entering the final week of the regular season.

LSU decided to make a change and fired Brian Kelly following a loss against Texas A&M in late October after three and a half years and a 34-14 record in the Bayou.

While the firing had its fair share of controversy itself, it sparked the coaching search form LSU, that seemed to be focused on Kiffin from the word “go.”

It’s not so much of the fact that Kiffin is leaving Ole Miss to coach the LSU Tigers, but how the entire process came to fruition.

Ole Miss had an open date the week prior to the last regular season match-up, and rumors began floating then that members of the Kiffin family made trips to Baton Rouge and Gainesville (with rumors also he was interested in the Florida job).

Many within the LSU Athletics community felt that the decision was made during that week by both Kiffin and LSU.

However, much to ESPN’s Marty Smith’s dismay, it drug out much longer than that. Kiffin and Ole Miss AD, Keith Carter made the announcement leading into rivalry weekend that the decision of the future of Coach Kiffin would be made Saturday after the Friday Egg Bowl meeting with Mississippi State.

The Rebels handled the in-state rival Bulldogs with a 38-19 win, and then the waiting began across college football.

Saturday came and went with no announcement, but some loud rumors coming from the Magnolia state. Rumors that Kiffin was heading to LSU and had told coaching staff that if they wanted to come with him, they needed to decide immediately and leave prior to the anticipated College Football Playoff run.

Reports are that most of the offensive staff, including offensive coordinator, Charlie Weis Jr., will be following Kiffin to LSU. After delayed team meetings and many “expert” conspiracies, the announcement came down Sunday afternoon that indeed Lane Kiffin would be taking over as the head football coach at LSU.

Why did it take this long? While there are many berating Kiffin on social media on how he handled the situation (and not saying that it was perfect by any means), I truly believe that it would have been immensely smoother if Texas hadn’t beaten Texas A&M on Friday.

With the Longhorns victory, it signaled that Ole Miss had a chance to play for the SEC Championship if Auburn had beaten Alabama on Saturday evening.

At the end of the day, there’s not a whole lot of warm feelings between Lane Kiffin and the Oxford contingency, but it will make next year’s game in Oxford between LSU and Ole Miss one to watch!