OXFORD — Saturday was genius.

Sure, it was goofy. Yes, it was unorthodox.

But let’s be clear. It took stones — for lack of a better word — to do what Lane Kiffin did on Saturday. The Ole Miss coach spurned tradition and accepted all of the online criticism and turned a spring game into a bit of a carnival.

Ole Miss wrapped up spring with a slam dunk competition, a hot dog eating contest, and four quarters of flag football. The Rebels also had a tug of war contest and the “Grove Bowl Gauntlet.” The Red team won, 71-70, getting a point when Caden Davis' 65 -yard field goal attempt on the final play of the day sailed wide.

Months after Ole Miss wrapped up an 11-2 season that culminated with a Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl win over Penn State and a top-10 ranking, the featured attraction at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium wasn’t Jaxson Dart, Tre Harris, Jared Ivey or JJ Pegues. The spotlight wasn’t on some of the Rebels’ heralded newcomers, not Pooh Paul or Walter Nolen or Princely Umanmielen. Instead, it was the world’s most famous competitive eater, Joey Chestnut.

Chestnut ate 20 hot dogs in 90 seconds, the highlight of Saturday’s festivities. It was an incredible performance by competitive eating’s greatest star.

"I had several players near me say it was one of the most impressive things they had ever seen," Kiffin said.

The Rebels threw some love to players from the past and to other sports on campus. Elijah Moore, AJ Brown, Cory Core and Chris Beard judged the dunk contenst, while former Ole Miss hoops star Murphy Holloway served as the emcee.

There was the red staff versus the blue staff in tug-of-war, prior to the sorority championship in the same event, pitting Alpha Chi Omega versus Pi Beta Phi. In case you were wondering, Pi Phi destroyed Alpha Chi Omega, earning a shot against Bachelorette contestant/Ole Miss staffer Jonathan Hess.

Generally, Saturday was well-received. Sure, there were some on social media who threw barbs, but on Saturday, Kiffin said the quiet part out loud: In the modern era of college football, spring football games are obsolete, even more meaningless than they've always been -- and that's saying something.

Player development has never been less meaningful. Around half of Ole Miss’ roster came from the transfer portal, and that number figures to go up in the coming weeks. These days, if a player can't contribute fairly quickly, he likely heads to the transfer portal or is processed in favor of another player from the portal.

The transfer portal opens again on Monday, and while Ole Miss will suffer some losses — defensive tackle Josh Harris announced late last week that he will enter the portal — the Rebels figure to be quite active. It’s no secret former Ole Miss running back Henry Parrish Jr., who spent the past two seasons at Miami, is headed back to Oxford. There are other rumors gaining steam regarding imminent additions.

In other words, Ole Miss’ roster isn’t set and likely won't be until the start of the summer, if then.

Even if it were set now, the lack of a traditional spring game would have absolutely zero impact on the Rebels’ much-anticipated season. The Rebels didn’t tackle this spring but they will have a very physical preseason, just as has been the case since Kiffin arrived at Ole Miss in December 2019.

If the Rebels don’t live up to expectations this fall and fail to make the 12-team College Football Playoff, it won’t be because they didn’t tackle to the ground on a sunny Saturday in mid-April.

Saturday was fun. Players had a good time. Fans seemed to enjoy themselves. It’s April. It's not football season. It's baseball season. It's the Saturday of The Masters. The Kentucky Derby is around the corner. The NBA regular season ends Sunday.

In June, when the entire roster is on campus, things will get serious. Ole Miss roster is loaded and will only improve over the next six weeks. By the time the Rebels hit the practice field in late July/early August, the pressure will be intense. Ole Miss’ schedule is favorable, and the Rebels will take the field on Aug. 31 versus Mercer as a legitimate national title contender.

Kiffin didn’t want to risk injuries in March and April. That was smart. He didn’t want players to see their role in a spring game as a sign that they weren’t needed in Oxford and then bolt to the portal. That’s a sign of the times.

So Kiffin didn’t play a spring game Saturday. Things were loose and fun. It was genius. Don’t be surprised if a year from now, we look back and see Kiffin started a trend.

"It was pretty neat," Kiffin said. "I hope our fans enjoyed it. I know our players did. ...I don't care what other people do. It's not like I'm trying to set a trend."