How Lane Kiffin Built College Football’s Most Anticipated Game

Whit Weeks isn’t too concerned with how Lane Kiffin will handle the emotions this weekend. After all, his head coach has experience in these situations. 

“I haven’t really thought about that, but I know he’s gonna get it,” the LSU linebacker and team captain said of Kiffin’s return to Oxford to face Ole Miss, where he coached the previous six seasons before departing for Baton Rouge last November. “I know they don’t like him up there, but he’s prepared for that. It is what it is. He’s done it before in his career so I know he’s more prepared than anybody.” 

Weeks was referring to Oct. 16, 2021, when Kiffin led Ole Miss to Knoxville to face another one of his previous teams, Tennessee. Kiffin unexpectedly left the Volunteers after one season as head coach to take the same position at Southern California in 2010. More than a decade later, Kiffin returned—and Vol Nation had not forgotten. 

Ole Miss won, 31–26, but not without experiencing one of the most hostile college football environments in recent memory, including a debris shower so large that cheerleaders needed to evacuate the sidelines before the game ended. As Kiffin walked off in victory, he caught a water bottle thrown at him, and threw his visor into the crowd in return. 

Five years later, Kiffin’s return game sequel is here, and this one has arguably more animosity than the first. His new team, No. 7 LSU travels to face his previous team, No. 8 Ole Miss, for a primetime showdown on Saturday. 

Even before Kiffin, the schools had an established history. First played in 1894 and uninterrupted every year since 1945, the Magnolia Bowl is a college football institution. The prize is a trophy with the magnolia flower, which represents both states. Saturday’s meeting is the first time since 1962 that both teams are ranked inside the Associated Press top 10. The previous six games, going back to Kiffin’s first season at Ole Miss in 2020, were split 3–3.

This year’s game, however, carries a backstory and implications unlike any previous meeting. Beyond the field, the two programs have been intertwined with staff movement, player tampering, lawsuits, and FBI sweeps for the better part of the past year. All roads lead to the most anticipated college football game of the season, and an animosity too large to ignore. 

“I think it is unusual,” Kiffin said this week. “It’s one team you built and now a new team that you’re building.” 

“A Lot of Old Faces” 

Ole Miss defensive lineman Will Echoles was supposed to go deer hunting on Nov. 30 of last year—then he got the call. After weeks of speculation, Kiffin finally made a decision between staying at Ole Miss and multiple head coaching offers, including Florida and LSU. 

Ultimately, Kiffin left Ole Miss—a team that received a College Football Playoff bid one week later—for its rival, the Tigers.

“It was crazy,” Echoles said. “I was supposed to go that morning, then they called the team meeting. They announced [Pete Golding] as the head coach. It was crazy, just a sudden change.” 

Golding led the Rebels through the Playoff, including wins over Tulane and Georgia, despite Kiffin’s public push to finish the season with the team. After the season ended, a mass movement from Oxford to Baton Rouge ensued. 

Ole Miss listed 74 total football staff members in 2025. Today, 21 of those members, including Kiffin, assistant coaches, recruiting staff, strength and conditioning, and more, are at LSU. Four players—linebacker TJ Dottery, offensive lineman Devin Harper, defensive end Princewill Umanmielen, and wide receiver Winston Watkins Jr.—followed, too. 

Harper’s and Umanmielen’s departures have been especially noteworthy. Ole Miss filed lawsuits against both players in July for breach of contract over unpaid revenue-sharing buyouts totaling $950,000. Umanmielen was reportedly served papers in the parking lot outside the LSU football facility Tuesday.

Several high-profile Ole Miss players, including quarterback Trinidad Chambliss and running back Kewan Lacy, have since admitted LSU tried to lure them into the transfer portal. The amount of familiarity on both sides is an added layer for Saturday. 

“Really don’t have a relationship with [Kiffin],” Lacy said. “Just focused on the season. … I’m just ready [for the game]. It’s gonna be a great environment. A lot of old faces, so I’m excited.” 

“I Love Going Against Guys That I’ve Worked With” 

Golding and Kiffin’s friendship off the field has largely remained the same, at least publicly. Competitively, there’s a different feeling dating back to last year’s Playoff. Last month, Golding confirmed there was an FBI sweep of the facility after Kiffin’s departure, ahead of Ole Miss’s first Playoff game in mid-December. 

Kiffin departed, but several assistant coaches were permitted to stay on with Ole Miss through the Playoff before leaving for LSU, including offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr., running backs coach Kevin Smith, and more. In between prepping Ole Miss players, those assistants were making trips to Baton Rouge to help recruit and assemble LSU’s 2026 roster. 

Naturally, there was caution, especially considering the soon-to-be LSU coaches were spending a great deal of time with current Ole Miss players. A heightened sense of security is common during Playoff time, and that situation amplified the need for additional safety measures. 

The familiarity between Kiffin and Golding raises the question of who has the edge in a coach vs. former assistant setting. Kiffin contends the advantage favors the assistant, pointing to his past matchups with his former head coach Nick Saban as an example—even though Kiffin never beat the Alabama legend.

“I listened for three years to all the things he taught us that he didn’t like,” Kiffin said of Saban. “We ended up using them against him. I think in this situation, that benefits them more than us.” 

The importance of Saturday to Kiffin is well known, and there’s a similarly big moment awaiting Golding. He’s already led Ole Miss to Playoff wins, something Kiffin never did. He now has a chance to beat his former boss—and friend—head-to-head. 

“I love going against guys that I’ve worked with, that I’ve got relationships with,” Golding said. “The competitive part is no different than you and your buddies going to play golf, right? They do a really good job, so I’m looking forward to the competition.” 

“It’s Gonna Be a Bloodbath” 

“Taking it one game at a time” is a cliché shared across all sports. But it’s undeniable this game has been circled since last November. “Fans have been talking about this since the offseason,” Ole Miss wide receiver Deuce Alexander said. “Every time they see me, it’s the only game they bring up.” 

The expected hostility is being met with a large police presence. Oxford police have enlisted help from the Mobile, Alabama, and New Orleans police departments for crowd control. On Wednesday, the Mississippi Department of Public Safety issued a statement announcing that it’s deploying the largest highway patrol to date for Saturday’s game. 

There’s little delusion from LSU about the level of vitriol coming its way, and it’s already started. “The Roast of Lane Kiffin” was held Wednesday night in Oxford, featuring a dais of comedians and local residents. Notable features included a bronzed mannequin representing Kiffin with a sign that read “quit” and urinal cakes in the men’s bathroom with Kiffin’s face on them. 

LSU’s players are fully expecting a hostile crowd inside Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. In some ways, the ability to embrace the role of the villain is something Kiffin has sought in building out his initial roster, which features 63 new players. 

“These kids choose us,” Kiffin said. “They know what they’re choosing. Kids who maybe don’t think that way or who are concerned by that probably don’t come to us. We are who we are. As much as we choose them, they choose us, too.” 

Oxford is set to be the center of the college football world. ESPN’s College GameDay and SEC Network’s SEC Nation will be among those in attendance.

With the amount of attention surrounding this weekend, Golding likened it to a high school homecoming and its potential pitfalls. 

“If you focus on the wrong shit, that homecoming dance ain’t very fun,” Golding said. “We have to make sure we’re doing everything right throughout the week to get the outcome that we want.” 

And inside the lines of competition, the expectation is that the play on the field matches the anticipated intensity off it. 

“It’s gonna be a great matchup,” Alexander said. “Yeah, just get ready. It’s gonna be a bloodbath.”