No. 7 LSU walked into Oxford with all the hype that comes with a top-10 showdown, and No.
8 Ole Miss spent the first half making the Tigers look lost. At halftime, LSU trailed 24-7 at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in a game that had already turned sharply in the Rebels’ favor.
This was always going to carry extra weight for LSU coach Lane Kiffin, who returned to Oxford for the first time since leaving Ole Miss after six seasons to take over the Tigers. It was also the first top-10 LSU-Ole Miss matchup since 1962, which only raised the spotlight on a night that quickly tilted away from LSU.
Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss was in complete control early. Jacques Doucet noted that Chambliss “has operated very comfortably and has been extremely sharp in the 1st half - 21-27-0 passing for 248 yards and 2 touchdowns.” Meanwhile, LSU struggled to generate anything close to that rhythm, with Doucet writing that the Tigers “has limped to 117 yards of total offense, 75 finally coming on the Tigers touchdown drive late.”
The Rebels opened by punching LSU in the mouth with a 10-0 lead after one quarter. By the middle of the second quarter, Ole Miss had stretched it to 17-0 and was “moving the football at will,” according to Doucet. LSU finally found some life late in the half, cutting the deficit to 17-7 with 1:57 remaining before halftime.
But even that response didn’t fully steady the Tigers. The first half ended with LSU still chasing, and the Rebels holding a three-score edge at the break.
Kickoff was set for 6:30 p.m. CT at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, with the game airing on ABC. LSU was due to get the ball to start the second half.
In Other News...
Ole Miss Fan Just Gave The Grove A Viral GameDay Moment
The Grove already had its usual Saturday buzz when ESPNs College GameDay stopped in Oxford, but Ole Miss freshman James Whitehead turned the backdrop into the days biggest side story. Whitehead stepped into Pat McAfees weekly kicking contest and drilled a 33-yard field goal, a swing that instantly changed the mood in front of the Ole Miss crowd and sent the broadcast scrambling to keep up.
The moment only got bigger from there, especially when McAfee initially wrote the prize as $100 million on a novelty check before correcting himself on the air. Whitehead came away with the actual $1 million prize, and he said he plans to split it with a friend who submitted the winning entry, a tidy finish to one of those rare campus scenes that feels made for replay clips and Saturday folklore alike. [Read more 🡒]
GameDays Ole Miss Split Just Added More Heat To LSU Showdown
College GameDay turned Oxford into a focal point ahead of Ole Miss-LSU, with the crew on hand live from town and Morgan Freeman joining in on the fun by making winner predictions for several Week 3 college football matchups. The buildup fit the stage, too, with the Rebels and Tigers set for one of the weekends most-watched games and the atmosphere around it only getting louder.
The panels view of the matchup was split, which only sharpened the edge on a game that already had plenty of attention. Most of the crew leaned Ole Miss, while Nick Saban went the other way and Kirk Herbstreit stayed out of the pick entirely because he is on the call for the game, leaving the pregame conversation with just enough disagreement to keep the spotlight fixed on Oxford. [Read more 🡒]
Lane Kiffins Family Is Forcing Ole Miss Fans To Confront Something Ugly
As Ole Miss gets ready for a marquee showdown with LSU on Saturday night, the noise around Lane Kiffin has spilled well beyond the usual game-week chatter. His family has been caught in the middle of it, with inappropriate jokes and offensive behavior aimed at people who should have no part in the football noise at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
Layla Kiffin posted a message on social media asking for kindness, and Landry Kiffin spoke publicly about the hurt caused by banners and comments that crossed a line. It is the kind of ugly sideshow that tends to surface around big games, and it puts a different kind of pressure on a night that was already set to draw plenty of attention on ABC at 7:30 p.m. ET. [Read more 🡒]