This is Lane Kiffin Psychodrama Week in college football, and that label feels less like a joke than a warning sign. LSU’s trip to Ole Miss doesn’t just put a coach against his old school. It drags one of the sport’s nastiest relationships right back into the spotlight.
Kiffin’s move across the Mississippi River is the kind of switch that leaves a mark for a long time, and this one lands especially hard because of the history between LSU and Ole Miss. The rivalry started in 1894, seven years before Ole Miss first played Mississippi State, and the schools have met 114 times.
LSU leads the series 66-44-4. There were also stretches when both teams sat near the top of the SEC, and at times among the best in the country.
For Ole Miss fans, the memory bank runs deep. From 1958 to ’62, the Rebels went 48-5-1, and three of those losses plus the tie came against LSU.
One defeat still stings all these years later: the 7-3 game on Halloween night in Baton Rouge in 1959, when Mississippi native Billy Cannon returned a late punt 89 yards for the winning points, the game’s only touchdown. Cannon later won the Heisman Trophy, which an Ole Miss player has never done.
LSU’s rise continued from there, while Ole Miss slipped from that level of prominence. And when the SEC had two divisions from 1992 to 2023, Ole Miss was the only SEC West team that never reached the league championship game.
That’s why Kiffin to LSU feels so combustible. It is not just a coaching change; it’s a move that lands on top of a rivalry with real baggage.
And because LSU and Ole Miss are set as annual opponents on future SEC schedules, this won’t fade quickly. The first meeting is going to carry the sharpest edge.
Still, Kiffin is only the latest coach to leave a fan base bristling at the sight of him in a different color. The list of former-school grudges runs deep.
Penn State is one of them. Nittany Lions fans wanted James Franklin gone after years of coming up short in the biggest games, but they also want their own program to do better than Franklin’s rebound job at Virginia Tech. Right now both sides are 2-0, and both are waiting for the first loss so they can claim the upper hand.
Arizona fans have their own fresh wound. When the coaching dominoes started falling in January 2024 after Nick Saban’s retirement, Jedd Fisch left Tucson for Washington after three seasons.
That move came after the standard loyalty talk, but it happened fast. Washington athletic director Troy Dannen was at Fisch’s house signing him to a contract two days after Kalen DeBoer left for Alabama.
Fisch had just a three-minute team meeting to announce he was leaving, then took several players, recruits and staff members with him, including current Washington star quarterback Demond Williams Jr.
Northwestern supporters generally don’t blame Pat Fitzgerald for the way things ended after the hazing scandal, especially after he settled a wrongful termination suit against the school and remains arguably the program’s greatest player. But the new Michigan State coach still took a shot at his old school at Big Ten media days in July.
Talking about the atmosphere in East Lansing, he said, “I’m just excited to have a home field advantage. Never lived that.
It’s going to be cool. Really excited about it, not going to lie.”
Northwestern visits Michigan State on Oct. 17.
Oklahoma fans, meanwhile, are still sore about Lincoln Riley’s shocking departure for USC. Some were happy to see him go because of the defenses his teams fielded, but the bigger issue is simple: the next guy hasn’t matched his production. Plenty of Sooners are still checking the Trojans’ score with interest, waiting for Riley’s downfall.
Bobby Petrino has managed to annoy more than one fan base. Louisville fans were upset with him even before his first departure, since he had tried to jump to Auburn and LSU before leaving for the NFL.
Petrino’s second stint helped change the mood for a while, especially once he turned Lamar Jackson into a Heisman winner, but that ended with him quitting coaching and watching the program fall apart. He was fired 10 games into the 2018 season.
Arkansas fans have their own long memory too, thanks to the motorcycle ride that became infamous and derailed a successful run. Given how the program has gone since, some Razorbacks fans would have taken him back at different points.
Notre Dame’s breakup with Brian Kelly ended up looking like a win for the Irish, with Marcus Freeman taking them to the 2024 College Football Playoff championship game and Kelly getting fired last year at LSU. But there was real bitterness in South Bend for a while toward the coach who walked away for what he thought was a better path to a national title.
LSU fans, of course, have their own grudge in the other direction. Nick Saban followed a familiar route: win a college national title, spend one more season, try the pros, fail there, and then return to college at a hated rival of his old school.
The difference, as the source put it, is that Rick Pitino won one more national title of sorts at his rival stop, while Saban won six. To LSU fans, he will always be an Alabama legend, and that still gets under their skin.
Mississippi State also knows the feeling. Dan Mullen was the second-winningest coach in Bulldogs history when he left for Florida in 2018, and the timing made it worse - it came just nine months after he had agreed to a four-year extension.
He had to face Mississippi State in Starkville just five games into his Florida tenure. Before that game, buttons with a photoshop of quarterback Nick Fitzgerald flipping off Mullen were making the rounds.
Mullen won that day, but he eventually lost the bigger battle, getting fired by Florida three years later.
In Other News...
Former Penn State Departures Are Already Becoming A Virginia Tech Problem
Virginia Techs 44-21 win over Old Dominion came with a familiar Penn State flavor, and for the Nittany Lions fan base, it was the kind of reminder that departures can quickly become somebody elses gain. Quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer, tight end Luke Reynolds and edge rushers Mylachi Williams and Cortez Harris all played major roles, giving the Hokies a boost on both sides of the ball as they handled business in the opener.
Grunkemeyer threw for 327 yards and two touchdowns, while Reynolds put together career highs in catches, yards and scores, and Williams and Harris each piled up multiple tackles for loss and sacks. Penn State coach James Franklin had already pointed to the offensive matchup problems created by Reynolds and slot receiver QueSean Brown, and if Virginia Tech keeps getting that kind of production from former Nittany Lions, it is easy to see why this one may linger as more than a one-game storyline. [Read more 🡒]
Penn States Newcomers Are Already Becoming The Heart Of This Team
Penn States newest faces were impossible to miss in the win over Temple, and that is exactly the point of this roster overhaul. The 2026 group includes 40 transfer players, and several of them were already shaping the game in a 27-9 victory that looked a lot more like a team with established answers than one still sorting through fresh parts. Rocco Becht settled in at quarterback and Ben Brahmer made an immediate imprint at tight end, while other transfers popped up all over the field on both sides of the ball.
Becht completed 21 of 27 passes for 268 yards and three touchdowns, the kind of efficient debut that can change the tone of an entire offense. Brahmer added five catches for 78 yards and two scores, and the supporting cast of newcomers helped Penn State look deeper and more settled than a team still learning itself. The bigger question now is not whether the transfers can help, but how quickly this group can become the backbone of a season with higher ambitions still ahead. [Read more 🡒]
Penn States 2-0 Start Comes With One Big Defensive Concern
Penn States 2-0 start has the Nittany Lions moving up to No. 14 in the AP Top 25, and there was plenty else around the program to like over the weekend. The football team handled Temple in Week 2, the womens volleyball team swept Stanford, and several Penn State defenders earned Big Ten honors from Pro Football Focus, giving the athletic department a strong early-season snapshot across multiple sports.
The one concern hanging over the football side is a significant one. Head coach Matt Campbell said defensive end Max Granville suffered a season-ending injury, a blow that immediately changes the outlook for a defense that had just started to build momentum. Even with the ranking bump and the rest of the program stacking wins, Penn State now has to figure out how to absorb a major loss up front and keep the early surge on track. [Read more 🡒]