Kroger put 20-ounce bottles of French’s yellow mustard on sale Wednesday, and in most places that would barely register. In Oxford, Miss., though, the timing is impossible to miss.
Lane Kiffin is set to return Saturday, this time as LSU’s head coach, and the possibility of Ole Miss fans greeting him with flying objects is hanging over the week. Kroger is offering the mustard for $1.49 per bottle with a Kroger Plus card, with shoppers able to pick either the classic yellow mustard or Sweet Baby Ray’s barbecue sauce.
The condiment has become part of the Kiffin story before. When he returned to Tennessee in 2021 for the first time as a head coach after leaving the Volunteers following the 2009 season, Tennessee fans threw garbage onto the field late in the Rebels’ win. One of the most memorable items to land in Knoxville was a bottle of French’s yellow mustard.
That history has made the idea of a repeat feel less like a joke and more like a possibility, especially with Ole Miss fans furious over Kiffin’s move to LSU during the 2025 postseason. Still, Oxford-area stores are not advertising any kind of Kiffin-related mustard frenzy.
The Oxford Kroger location did not answer multiple calls from AL.com during the week. Kroger’s corporate office also did not respond to a question about whether mustard sales were up at the Oxford store.
Walmart, the town’s other major corporate grocery chain, did not list mustard in its weekly sale on its website. The Oxford store also did not pick up the phone, and Walmart corporate did not respond to an inquiry.
Local stores were just as quiet. Chicory Market, one of Oxford’s locally owned groceries, answered the phone and forwarded AL.com to owner Kate Bishop, but she did not respond to an email about mustard sales.
Larson’s CashSaver, which has two Mississippi locations including one in Oxford, also did not show mustard in its weekly ad. When asked whether sales had risen ahead of Kiffin’s return, a Larson’s employee said, “We have not,”
Safety concerns around the game have been real enough that Oxford police have been preparing throughout the offseason for Kiffin’s arrival. Mobile and New Orleans are both sending police to town ahead of the game to help out.
At Monday’s press conference in Baton Rouge, Kiffin acknowledged the attention.
“I guess there’s real safety issues and stuff, so there’s people that have a plan for that,” Kiffin said. “But I told the players today, you don’t have to worry about anything as far as attention on you all week. There’s so much attention and hatred on me, you just get to go play.”
His exit to LSU stirred the kind of controversy that tends to follow the former Alabama offensive coordinator. Kiffin had lobbied to be allowed to coach through Ole Miss’ College Football Playoff run even after accepting the LSU job.
He added more fuel during the offseason with an interview in Vanity Fair, where he said Ole Miss’ racist reputation hurt him in recruiting.
LSU linebacker Whit Weeks said he expects Kiffin to get plenty of reaction in Oxford.
“I know he’s going to get it,” Whit Weeks said. “I know they don’t like him up there, but he’s prepared for that.
I mean, it is what it is. He’s done it before in his career, so I know he’s more prepared than anybody.”
Not every possible projectile has the same logistics, of course. Oxford doesn’t have a dedicated golf store, but it does have a Dick’s Sporting Goods. Golf balls, at least in theory, could be easier to carry into Vaught-Hemingway Stadium than a bottle of mustard.
Even so, an employee in the golf section at the Oxford Dick’s location brushed aside the idea that fans were stocking up for Kiffin. Asked whether golf ball sales were up, the staffer gave a one-word answer.
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