Lane Kiffin was met with a torrent of boos when he made his long-awaited return to Ole Miss on Saturday night for the bitter SEC showdown against his LSU team.
The game marked the first time the divisive LSU head coach had set foot in Oxford, Mississippi, since his dramatic move to the SEC rival in November.
Kiffin stunned the college football world by leaving Ole Miss after guiding the Rebels to the College Football Playoff.
Relations have remained hostile ever since. Ole Miss fans lined the streets outside Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, waiting for Kiffin and his LSU players to arrive.
Escorted by several police officers, Kiffin stepped off the LSU team bus roughly 90 minutes before kickoff. Thousands of Rebels supporters responded with a loud chorus of boos and jeers.
Kiffin remained composed and waved toward the crowd, while a few cheers from traveling LSU fans could barely be heard above the hostility directed at him.
Lane Kiffin faced a furious reception as he returned to Ole Miss on Saturday night
Kiffin was escorted by police officers as he faced a barrage of boos and jeers
The LSU coach was booed again when he walked onto the field at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium
Mississippi state officials said they were deploying the largest law enforcement presence ever assembled for a college football game in Oxford. The town has about 26,000 permanent residents, but authorities expected roughly 100,000 people to descend on the area, including many without tickets for the 64,000-seat Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
Speaking to ESPN on the field shortly after arriving, Kiffin said: “It’s an exciting day. Two great teams. Two top 10 teams. Electric crowd and great energy around it.
“This is what is great. SEC football. What an exciting thing for both programs to be on this stage.”
Asked about the reception when he got off the bus, Kiffin added: “We’ve done this thing before. It’s kind of fun. You just embrace it. Both teams are going to have a lot of fun tonight.”
Any uncertainty about Kiffin’s standing with Ole Miss supporters quickly disappeared during Saturday’s live broadcast of ESPN’s College GameDay.
Kiffin appeared via satellite from the team’s Oxford hotel, with his face projected onto a large screen overlooking a packed gathering of students and Rebels fans.
Almost immediately, the crowd began chanting “a**hole.”
“I really appreciate you guys gaslighting them with this,” Kiffin told the ESPN panel.
Fans also arrived at the College GameDay set with a collection of mocking signs aimed at the former Ole Miss coach.
One young Rebels fan held a sign that read: “I’m 10 and I make better decisions than Lane.”
Another young woman joked about Kiffin’s return by displaying a sign that said: “Why is my ex here?”
Kiffin did try to defuse the tension at a few moments, once telling the panel: ‘It’s not about me. Both teams have great players, great coaches, [I] have a lot of respect for their program.’
Meanwhile, chants of ‘a**hole’ continued to rage in the background.
Kiffin was targeted by Ole Miss fans during Saturday’s episode of College GameDay
Fans naturally brought some derisive signs to the College GameDay broadcast
One young Rebels fan claimed to make better decisions than the 51-year-old Kiffin
It was the latest in a growing buildup for the first top-10 matchup between No. 7 LSU and eighth-ranked Ole Miss since 1962.
It started when Kiffin left the Rebels to take the LSU job and a $91 million contract just as the team he had coached for six years was days away from its first appearance in the College Football Playoff.
Kiffin wanted to stay through the playoff, but Ole Miss moved on to coach Pete Golding and advanced to the CFP semifinals. LSU finished 7-6, capped by a loss in the Texas Bowl.
The off-field storylines haven’t stopped since. Kiffin’s comments about whether Black players could be recruited to Ole Miss, lawsuits alleging Ole Miss transfers owe big money for reneging on their NIL deals and LSU’s now-abandoned defiance of rules against rostering former pro players have only brightened the spotlight for this one.
LSU threw another wrinkle into the mix by saying midweek that quarterback Sam Leavitt was ‘doubtful’ to play, sparking immediate fan accusations of gamesmanship. He’s been upgraded since and is expected to start.
Kiffin himself acknowledged there could be ‘hatred’ in the stands Saturday. Security has been dramatically increased as authorities expect 100,000 people in Oxford, a town whose school-year population of about 25,000 is virtually all students.
LSU leads the overall series between these border rivals 65-39-3, but Ole Miss has won three of the past five meetings, including last year in Oxford. The Tigers opened as 2 1/2-point favorites after giving up just two offensive touchdowns through two games, but they will be challenged by a pair of Heisman Trophy contenders in Ole Miss’ backfield: quarterback Trinidad Chambliss and running back Kewan Lacy.
The winner improves to 3-0 on the season — and gets savory bragging rights.
