Lane Kiffin had LSU on his mind Monday, but Ole Miss and Austin Simmons were never far behind.
Kiffin, now leading the 22nd-ranked Tigers after leaving Oxford late in the 2025 season, was speaking with reporters as LSU prepared to try to rebound from its loss at Kentucky against No. 16 Mississippi State in Week 7. The conversation eventually swung back to the school he used to coach and the quarterback he used to coach there, too.
Simmons spent 2023-25 at Ole Miss before transferring to Mizzou, and his new team heads to Oxford on Saturday for a ranked SEC matchup with the ninth-ranked Rebels. The 13th-ranked Tigers and Ole Miss will put Simmons right back in the spotlight in the city where he spent three seasons with Kiffin, with the added twist that Kiffin himself made a return to Oxford earlier this season when LSU played and lost there.
Asked Monday about Simmons, Kiffin turned the moment into a joke at Ole Miss’s expense.
“Is that tampering if I talk about another player in college? I don’t know anymore,” said Lane Kiffin, in a little, not-so-playful nudge toward Ole Miss.
“Is there really tampering anyway? Speaking of one of those two schools.
… Does it matter if you tamper? Is there actually a penalty?
So, I guess I’ll comment on it. I love Austin.
I think Austin’s a first-round draft pick. I’ve said that the whole time through.”
Now Simmons gets his turn in Oxford, this time with Mizzou trying to knock off the Rebels on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET on SEC Network.
In Other News...
Missouri Brings A Dangerous Twist To This Huge Oxford Test
A big October test is waiting in Oxford, and Missouri is arriving with plenty of confidence after stacking wins over Florida and Texas A&M. The Tigers are ranked 13th nationally, and they have started to look like the sort of complete team that can punish any mistake, which makes this matchup a particularly important one for Ole Miss as it continues to chase momentum in a crowded SEC race.
What gives the game an extra layer is the familiar face factor, with former Rebels Austin Simmons and Cayden Lee now helping drive Missouris success. The Tigers also just showed how disruptive they can be defensively by slowing Floridas Jadan Baugh, who had previously been a problem for Ole Miss, so the Rebels will have to sort through both the emotional edge and the tactical challenge if they want to protect home field. [Read more 🡒]
Ole Miss Is Winning Differently And That Should Excite Rebels Fans
Ole Miss left Nashville with more than another win, it left with one of the clearest signs yet that this seasons attack is built to stress opponents in every direction. Trinidad Chambliss and Jam Brown found the end zone, and the Rebels kept rolling with a style that spread the production around instead of leaning on just one or two familiar names. It was the kind of game that underscored how many different ways this team can score when the offense is clicking.
The defense and special moments from elsewhere on the field only added to the sense that this was a complete performance. Suntarine Perkins scored his first career touchdown and also reached 20 career sacks, a milestone that says plenty about his impact already. Ole Miss has now scored a touchdown with seven different players in a recent game and has been perfect in the red zone this season, which is the sort of balance that should have Rebels fans thinking this team may be winning in a more sustainable way than ever before. [Read more 🡒]
Ole Miss Defense Just Revived A Question That Will Define November
A week after the Florida loss raised real concerns about where Ole Miss defense stood, Pete Goldings unit responded the way a playoff hopeful needs to in October. The Rebels rolled past Vanderbilt 52-17, and the most encouraging part for Ole Miss wasnt just the margin. It was the defense settling back in, giving up only 17 points and doing a much better job against the run, which had been a sore spot in the previous outing.
That kind of bounce-back matters now because the schedule is about to get a lot more demanding. Ole Miss is heading into ranked conference games with November looming, and the defenses ability to hold up against better offenses may end up shaping whether this team stays in the College Football Playoff conversation. For Golding, the Vanderbilt showing was a useful reset, but the real test is still ahead. [Read more 🡒]