Lane Kiffin’s return to Ole Miss pulled a huge TV audience Saturday night, but it still didn’t come close to the LSU-Alabama heavyweight fight that still sits alone in LSU lore.
LSU’s 32-24 loss at No. 8 Ole Miss drew 10.9 million viewers on ABC, according to Nielsen, making it the second-most watched college football game of the season. Only Ohio State-Texas, which aired Sept. 12 on ABC and kicked off at 8:39 p.m., ranked higher with 13.9 million viewers.
The matchup had plenty of juice beyond the rankings. Kiffin, who coached Ole Miss from 2020-25 before moving on, brought his LSU team back into Oxford on Saturday night, and the Rebels got the win in front of a record crowd of 70,003 at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Ole Miss jumped out fast, building a 17-0 lead in the first half and taking a 24-7 edge into halftime under coach Pete Golding, who had served as Kiffin’s defensive coordinator at Ole Miss from 2023-25 before taking over the program.
LSU didn’t go quietly. Kiffin’s team battled back to tie it 24-24 early in the fourth quarter and still had a chance in the closing moments before Ole Miss finished it off.
The numbers also underscore how often LSU has shown up in the season’s biggest TV draws. The Tigers’ 51-10 win over Clemson on Sept. 5 in Tiger Stadium brought in 5.7 million viewers on ABC for an 8:40 p.m. kickoff, giving LSU a spot in two of the year’s most-watched games so far.
Saturday’s audience, though, was nowhere near LSU’s all-time regular-season TV peak. That record still belongs to the 2011 “Game of the Century” at Alabama, when No.
1 LSU beat No. 2 Alabama 9-6 in overtime on Nov.
5, 2011. That game drew 20.01 million viewers and remains the second-most watched regular-season college football game ever, behind Ohio State-Michigan in 2006, which drew 21.8 million.
LSU also appears again on the all-time list with the 2019 showdown at Alabama. That No.
1 LSU-No. 2 Alabama game drew 16.73 million viewers, making it the No. 5 most watched regular-season college football game.
LSU won that one 46-41 and went on to finish 15-0 and win the national championship.
LSU now turns to another prime-time stage. No.
10 LSU, 2-1 and 0-1 in the Southeastern Conference, hosts No. 23 Texas A&M, 2-1 and 0-1 in the SEC, on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. on ABC in Tiger Stadium.
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