After nine months of waiting, LSU is headed to Oxford for the kind of September stage that has a way of telling you plenty about both teams. No.
7 LSU and No. 8 Ole Miss meet Saturday night in a primetime SEC opener for the Tigers, with kickoff scheduled for 6:49 p.m.
CT on ABC and the LSU Sports Radio Network.
It’s a heavyweight matchup in every sense, and it also brings Lane Kiffin back to Oxford for the first time since taking over at LSU. The attention around him will be loud all week, but Kiffin made it clear Monday that the focus inside the building is supposed to stay on the players.
"I know a lot is going to be made about me, but this is about the players being prepared really well and playing really well,” Kiffin said on Monday “This is about our guys in their first SEC game. It won't be about all the other stuff and all the other noise."
Saturday’s game has a national spotlight to match the ranking. Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Holly Rowe and Laura Rutledge will be on the ABC broadcast, while Chris Blair, Jacob Hester and Gordy Rush will handle the radio call. College GameDay will also be in town, marking the second time in LSU’s first three weeks that the Tigers have been featured on the show.
LSU comes in off a 45-14 win over Louisiana Tech, and the second half turned that game into a runaway. The Tigers scored 35 of their points after halftime, with the defense again setting the tone. TJ Dottery led the team with nine tackles, Whit Weeks added seven, and Princewill Umanmielen turned in the biggest splash performance with five tackles and three sacks.
Umanmielen, who transferred from Ole Miss, has been a major presence for LSU up front. According to PFF, he has logged 32 pass rush snaps and already has five sacks. The LSU sack record belongs to Arden Key, who finished with 12 in 2016.
This matchup carries some rare history with it, too. It’s the first time LSU and Ole Miss have met as Top 10 teams since 1962, when No.
4 LSU and No. 6 Ole Miss played in Tiger Stadium and the Rebels won 15-7.
It also marks the 115th meeting between the programs.
Kiffin’s return to Ole Miss adds another layer. He coached the Rebels for six seasons and went 55-19, a .743 winning percentage, before moving on to LSU. He said the outside noise won’t matter much once the game starts.
"I told the players today: you don't have anything to worry about as far as attention on you all week,” Kiffin said. “You just get to go play."
Ole Miss brings a veteran quarterback to the matchup in sixth-year QB Trinidad Chambliss, who has thrown a touchdown pass in 15 straight games. That streak is the fourth-longest in Ole Miss history. Against LSU last season, Chambliss threw for 314 yards and a touchdown and ran for 71 yards.
"That's a big challenge for us,” Kiffin said. He doesn't make many mistakes.
A really mature quarterback. You are going to have to play really well for a long period of time.
You're dealing with someone with a lot of maturity and big plays in big time games."
The Rebels also have production on the perimeter and in the backfield. Kewan Lacy has 148 rushing yards and three touchdowns through two games, while Deuce Alexander has 235 receiving yards and two scores.
On defense, Ole Miss is leaning on linebackers Luke Ferrelli, Tah’j Butler and Keaton Thomas, who are tied for the team lead with 12 tackles apiece.
Kiffin also noted the larger context of the matchup, calling it the most relevant meeting between the schools in decades.
"They've been playing this matchup for a long time and this is the first time (since 1962) that both teams are in the Top 10,” Kiffin said. “That shows it's the most relevant matchup of these teams in 64 years. That's a really neat thing."
LSU fans can also follow Kiffin’s first season in Baton Rouge through The Difference, LSU Football’s weekly docuseries on LSU+, which continues with exclusive interviews and behind-the-scenes coverage.
In Other News...
Lane Kiffin Just Added More Heat To LSU's Ole Miss Rivalry
Few SEC matchups carry as much history as LSU and Ole Miss, a rivalry that dates to 1894 and has grown into the Magnolia Bowl since 2008. The Tigers have controlled the series overall, leading 64-44-4, and the annual meeting has produced its share of memorable nights, from the 1959 Halloween game to the famed 1972 contest known as The Night Time Stood Still.
Recent history has leaned LSUs way, too, including a comeback win in 2024 that only added to the edge between the programs. With Lane Kiffin now adding more heat to the conversation, the next chapter in this long-running feud has plenty of built-in tension before anyone even steps on the field. [Read more 🡒]
Lane Kiffin Is Adding More Heat To LSUs Ole Miss Trip
Lane Kiffin has spent enough time in SEC theater to know how to lean into it, and this week he helped turn LSUs preparation for Ole Miss into a much louder scene. He invited LSU students to come out and heckle the Tigers during practice, using the chance to recreate the kind of hostile environment LSU will walk into on the road. The result was exactly the sort of charged backdrop this rivalry tends to attract, with signs, noise and plenty of pointed energy aimed at Kiffin and the team.
For LSU, the practical value is obvious: a little extra discomfort now could help when the real crowd gets involved. For Kiffin, the setting only added another layer to a matchup already carrying its own history, since he previously coached at Ole Miss before leaving in November. With the Tigers headed into that trip, the noise around practice was a reminder that this one is about more than just a football game. [Read more 🡒]
Ole Miss Just Got A GameDay Pick That Fans Will Love
The buildup around LSUs trip to Oxford already had the feel of one of the seasons biggest SEC showdowns, with the No. 7 Tigers set for a primetime meeting against No. 8 Ole Miss at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Now the stage has gotten even brighter, with College GameDay heading to the matchup and ABC carrying the game as part of a broadcast lineup that includes Chris Fowler, Holly Rowe and Laura Rutledge.
For a rivalry-like game with rankings this tight, the pregame spotlight is almost as much a part of the story as the snap-to-snap action, and this one will have plenty of it. Rece Davis, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, Pat McAfee and Nick Saban will be on hand for the show, joined by celebrity guest Morgan Freeman, giving the weekend an extra layer of buzz before LSU and Ole Miss even take the field. [Read more 🡒]