Oxford is about to get a look at a rivalry that has been turned inside out.
When No. 8 Ole Miss hosts No.
7 LSU at 6:30 p.m. in Oxford, Mississippi, on ABC, the headline isn’t just the matchup of 2-0 teams. It’s the sheer volume of movement between the programs since the end of last season: at least 33 coaches, players, front office members and support staff have changed colors between the Rebels and Tigers.
The biggest piece of the shakeup came when LSU coach Lane Kiffin took his new job at LSU on Nov. 30 last year. In the weeks that followed, he helped assemble an Ole Miss-to-LSU pipeline that sent nine assistant coaches, four players, one analyst, four strength and conditioning staffers and six support staffers from Oxford to Baton Rouge.
The result is a pair of programs that know each other far too well. The schools are separated by just 320 miles and one state border, and now each side is loaded with people who understand the other’s habits, preferences and approach.
LSU’s group includes players Winston Watkins Jr., Devin Harper, Princewill Umanmielen and TJ Dottery. Kiffin is there, too, along with Charlie Weis Jr., Joe Cox, Chris Kiffin, Kevin Smith, George McDonald, Sawyer Jordan, Dane Stevens, Lou Spanos and James Cregg on the coaching side.
The Tigers’ side also features analyst Donnie Both, strength staff members Nick Savage, Zach Akenberger, Anthony Henderson and Jordan Sims, plus Billy Glasscock, Thaddeus Rivers, Tyler Viens, Maddie Schlotfeld, Mike Williams and Dwike Wilson in support roles.
Ole Miss, meanwhile, has its own additions from the other side of the rivalry. The Rebels brought in JT Lindsey and Carius Curne as players, Frank Wilson as senior associate head coach/running backs coach, and Austin Thomas, Kelvin Bolden, Patrick Kelly, Jai Choudhary and Jake Sugarman on the support side.
Eight former Tigers players and coaches also moved the other direction, giving both programs an unusual level of crossover ahead of one of the biggest games of the college football season so far.
In Other News...
LSUs Backup QB Is Giving Tigers Fans A Reason To Pay Attention
LSU went into the offseason knowing quarterback depth would be a talking point, and the Tigers answered by adding three transfer portal passers, including Landen Clark from Elon. The 2025 Colonial Athletic Association Co-Offensive Rookie of the Year has already found his way onto the field in the first two games of the 2026 season, and his early work has given LSU something useful behind the starter: a backup who can operate the offense and threaten defenses with his legs.
Clark was the first quarterback to commit to LSU under coach Lane Kiffin, and he has quickly settled into the primary reserve role. Through two appearances, he has completed 7 of 10 passes for 109 yards and a touchdown while adding 42 rushing yards and another score, a small sample that still matters for a team that wants reliability if it ever has to turn to its No. 2 option. [Read more 🡒]
Why LSU Fans Still Treat Ole Miss Like A Different Night
Longtime LSU football pressbox announcer James Manasseh has spent enough Saturdays around Tiger Stadium to know which games carry their own kind of weight. In a recent look back at LSUs history in nationally televised night games, the 19th District Court Judge traced how those matchups helped define the programs home-field mystique, with the Ole Miss rivalry standing out as one of the fixtures that has always felt a little different under the lights.
Manasseh pointed to the rivalrys place in LSU history as something distinct from even the better-known Alabama series, a reminder that not every big game means the same thing in Baton Rouge. He also sounded confident about the next chapter, expressing belief that LSU will handle Ole Miss, which only adds to the anticipation for a matchup Tiger fans still treat like it belongs on its own night. [Read more 🡒]
Pete Golding Brings A Saban Edge Into Ole Miss' LSU Test
Ole Miss is getting LSU at a moment when Pete Golding has a familiar voice in the background of his coaching decisions. The former Alabama defensive coordinator, now running the Rebels, spent time talking this week about the matchup and the imprint Nick Saban left on him, especially the emphasis on discipline and accountability that became such a defining part of life in Tuscaloosa.
Goldings connection to Saban matters here because LSU is about to see a coach whose approach was shaped inside one of the SECs most demanding environments. However the game plays out, the Rebels are bringing a different kind of edge into the rivalry week conversation, and Goldings comments only sharpen the sense that this one is about more than just another league matchup. [Read more 🡒]