Lane Kiffin isn’t framing this reunion with Ole Miss as a breakup with a clear winner and loser.
He says it’s bigger than that.
Kiffin, now at LSU, is preparing to walk into Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 19, for the first time since leaving Oxford for Baton Rouge. The Tigers are heading to face the Rebels nearly 10 months after Kiffin chose LSU over Ole Miss, a move that came after Ole Miss had been in the middle of its best regular season ever and was on its way to the College Football Playoff for the first time.
At the time, Kiffin had been talking with LSU about its opening while still leading Ole Miss through that run. He wanted to stay and coach the Rebels through the CFP, but Ole Miss leadership would not allow it. Now, with both programs sitting in the top 10, Kiffin says the situation worked out for both sides.
"In games, there's winners and losers. But sometimes in decisions and things that go on, there's not always a winner and a loser," Kiffin told reporters during his weekly LSU press conference Monday.
"If you think about it, they've been playing this matchup for a long time, and this is the first time in the last 64 years that both are in the top 10. So that says to me it's the most relevant matchup of these two teams in 64 years.
I think that's a really neat thing that we were able to be a part of building a program there.
"(Ole Miss head coach Pete Golding's) doing a great job continuing it as a top 10 program. I think it's a really, really good thing that I think a lot of people could look at it and say, 'Hey both sides are doing really well and both sides won.'"
Golding has kept Ole Miss rolling after Kiffin’s departure, guiding the Rebels to the College Football Playoff semifinal. Meanwhile, Charlie Weis Jr., who worked with Kiffin at Ole Miss and is now LSU’s offensive coordinator, was on Ole Miss’s staff during the playoff run.
There’s also a clear personnel thread between the programs. Four players followed Kiffin from Oxford to Baton Rouge: senior defensive end Princewill Umanmielen, linebacker TJ Dottery, and sophomores Winston Watkins Jr. and Devin Harper.
That kind of familiarity is part of what makes this game so unusual, and Kiffin thinks it can shape the matchup in a very specific way. He pointed to his own experience after leaving Nick Saban’s staff at Alabama, when his first Ole Miss team scored 48 points in a 63-48 loss to the Crimson Tide in 2020.
"I think this is a really unusual thing when you talk about the familiarity with the offensive players. But there's so much familiarity," Kiffin said.
"When I worked for Saban, I think after I left, it benefited me as the coordinator, the opposite side of the head coach much more than it benefited him. Meaning, we went to go play, like when we first played, it's the COVID year and it's 60-50 because I had listened for three years to all the things he would teach us that he didn't like, and then we end up using it.
"In this way, it just benefits them more than us in the coaching way because Pete sat there and for the years we were together and hear me say what we don't like to play against. As the head coach, on that side of the ball, we tell them what to play it causes us problems."
In Other News...
Lane Kiffin Family Drama Just Added Another Twist To LSU Week
Landry Kiffin picked a familiar college-football backdrop for the launch of her new clothing brand, Fifth Year, rolling out the live sale during the LSU-Ole Miss game. The brand leans into activewear and gameday apparel, built around college colors and traditions, which makes the timing feel especially on-brand for a family that has spent plenty of time around both sidelines.
For LSU fans, the launch adds another layer to a week already shaped by the Kiffin familys connections to both programs. Landrys ties to LSU and Ole Miss give Fifth Year a built-in crossover appeal, and the coincidence of debuting it on game day only sharpened the spotlight around a matchup that was already going to draw attention well beyond the scoreboard. [Read more 🡒]
LSU Suddenly Has A Huge Ole Miss Question At Quarterback
An already important trip to Ole Miss got more complicated for LSU when quarterback Sam Leavitt was listed as doubtful because of an undisclosed injury. Leavitts availability had been one of the biggest factors in how this matchup was being framed, and his status now hangs over everything LSU is trying to sort out before kickoff.
If Leavitt cannot go, Elon transfer Landen Clark is expected to step in and make the start, which would put a lot more on LSUs shoulders in a tough road environment. The betting line has already moved in Ole Misss favor since the news broke, a pretty clear sign of how much this quarterback situation has changed the outlook for the Tigers. [Read more 🡒]
LSU Ole Miss Rivalry Just Picked Up An Ugly Off Field Twist
The LSU-Ole Miss rivalry already has plenty of edge on the field, but now it has spilled into the courtroom in a way that reaches straight into the Tigers roster. Ole Miss has filed breach-of-contract lawsuits against former Rebels Princewill Umanmielen and Devin Harper after both transferred to LSU, putting a legal wrinkle on what is usually just another bitter SEC football matchup.
Umanmielen was served court papers tied to the lawsuit just before LSUs game against Ole Miss, and he now has to respond with discovery documents as the case moves forward. The suit seeks nearly $1 million in penalties and is aimed at sorting out revenue-sharing obligations between the schools, turning a familiar rivalry into something far messier than a Saturday in Oxford or Baton Rouge. [Read more 🡒]