Lane Kiffin is walking into a return trip he knows will come with plenty of heat.
When LSU heads back to Oxford on Saturday, Kiffin expects the reception at Ole Miss to be anything but warm. The LSU coach said he has already told his team to keep its focus on football while the noise builds around him.
“There’s just going to be so much attention, hatred, everything on me. I said, you just get to go play,” Kiffin said of his message to the team amid questions of safety protocols.
“The pressure’s on them. They’re the team that, and we won seven games last year.
They won 13. They return two Heisman candidates.”
That kind of scene has been building since Kiffin left Ole Miss for LSU in December. He was once one of the most popular figures in Oxford, coming off a run that helped push the Rebels back into the spotlight and capped the program’s best season in decades. Now, the same crowd that celebrated him has turned on him.
The first sign of that shift came at the Oxford airport, where Kiffin was booed by fans gathered to see him off after his departure.
Ole Miss has also reportedly put increased security measures in place ahead of Saturday’s game, according to Ole Miss on SI, with emotions expected to run high throughout the day.
Kiffin has been through this kind of spotlight before. In 2021, he returned to Neyland Stadium for the first time since leaving Tennessee in 2009, and that game turned into one of the most memorable scenes of his career.
Ole Miss won 31-26, but the night is better remembered for mustard and ketchup bottles being thrown onto the field after a controversial booth review on a fourth-down play. Kiffin was also hit with a golf ball during the game.
Even with the personal edge, Kiffin said the priority is keeping the attention on the game and the work that leads up to it.
“It’ll be about how well did we practice, how well did we prepare, how well did we play on game day going into a place that has had a lot of success there, …” Kiffin said. “That’s going to put you in a position to win a lot of games. So we’re going to have to prepare really well and play really well in all areas.”
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Ole Miss Fan Just Delivered A Viral Pregame Flex At LSU's Expense
A day before Ole Miss and LSU renewed one of the SECs louder rivalries, an Oxford commercial pilot found a fresh way to needle the Tigers. Joshua Gregory took to the sky and, over Louisiana, used his flight path to spell out Come to the Sip, turning a pregame jab into something far bigger than a message board post.
The stunt quickly caught fire on social media and even drew notice from aviation enthusiasts around the world, which is about as wide a stage as a college football flex can get. It also prompted reaction from Louisiana pilot Brian Trascher, who weighed in on the challenge of pulling off the route and the rivalry flavor behind it, leaving the whole episode with a little more air time than anyone probably expected. [Read more 🡒]
Ole Miss Just Got A New Twist In Its LSU Lawsuit Fight
The offseason legal battle tied to Ole Miss took another turn when LSU defensive end Princewell Umanmielen was served court papers connected to a lawsuit the Rebels filed. The case centers on alleged breach of contract and seeks monetary damages from Umanmielen and another former Ole Miss player, adding a messy off-field layer to a dispute that already reaches beyond the usual transfer chatter.
LSU officials were aware there would be an attempt to serve Umanmielen before it happened, underscoring how carefully this has been unfolding behind the scenes. The suit is reportedly centered on revenue sharing issues between the schools, which gives the fight a broader backdrop than just one player and makes it clear this disagreement could have implications well past this single legal filing. [Read more 🡒]
Ole Miss Just Got Another Reason To Circle LSU Saturday
A routine September trip to Baton Rouge already had enough edge, but Ole Miss has picked up another layer of intrigue ahead of Saturdays matchup with LSU. Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry jumped onto social media to criticize the Rebels after they filed a breach of contract lawsuit against LSU defensive player Princewill Umanmielen, a former Ole Miss player who transferred after last season.
The legal fight has only sharpened the mood around a game that was already set up to carry real weight for both programs. With Umanmielen now on the LSU side of the rivalry and the lawsuit still hanging over the story line, this is the kind of off-field wrinkle that can make an SEC meeting feel even bigger before a single snap is played. [Read more 🡒]