It’s been five years since Lane Kiffin went into defense mode as the visiting head coach in hostile territory.
After leaving Tennessee to coach at Ole Miss, Kiffin’s first visit to Neyland Stadium in Knoxville resulted in golf balls and mustard bottles being hurled in his direction, one of which the former college quarterback caught with one hand.
Similar – or possibly heightened – hostility awaits Kiffin in his first trip to Ole Miss where he coached for six years and led the Rebels to the College Football Playoff. Before coaching in the postseason, Kiffin accepted an overture to coach at Ole Miss’ Southeastern Conference arch-rival – LSU – a move over the 10 months that has stoked the fires and set the scene for this Saturday’s matchup at 6:30 p.m.
ESPN’s GameDay will be on campus with a national audience set to watch the ABC broadcast.
“I know a lot’s going to be made about it, but this is about the players being prepared really well and playing really well,” Kiffin said during his news conference Monday. “(Ole Miss head coach) Pete’s (Golding) not going to tackle anybody and I’m not going to throw any touchdowns. I used to say the same thing when I played coach (Alabama’s Nick) Saban. He joked he wouldn’t do well in coverage at his age.
“I talked to our guys today,” Kiffin said. “This is the first SEC game. Both teams are 2-0 and we’ve got to prepare really well. It won’t be about the other stuff and all of the noise. It will be about how well did we practice? How well did we prepare? How well did we play on game day going into a place that’s had a lot of success there.”
This will be the 108th game in the historic series with this being first time in 64 years both teams are ranked in the top 10.
First time in a while
No. 7 LSU (2-0) has won a pair of home games over Clemson and Louisiana Tech. No. 8 Ole Miss has defeated Louisville and Charlotte and carry the nation’s third-longest winning streak of 13 games at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
The stadium, which was renovated to accommodate the home team’s fan base which expanded during Kiffin’s tenure, had hosted their three largest crowds over their past three games with the largest gathering of 68,251 for the CFP opener with Tulane.
“Ole Miss has phenomenal players,” Kiffin said. “At the end of last season, you had the best-playing quarterback (Trinidad Chambliss), running back (Kewan Lacy) and kicker (Lucas Carneiro) in the country coming back. That’s going to you in a position to win a lot of games. We’re going to prepare really well and play really well in all areas.”
Ole Miss won 55 of 74 games under Kiffin with a spectacular offense that developed some of the nation’s top quarterbacks. Jaxson Dart went on to become a first-round draft choice of the New York Giants, and Chambliss appears to be on way to achieving such status.
The Rebels completed the regular season 11-1 when Kiffin was caught in a tug-of-war between LSU and Ole Miss with the Tigers emerging victorious.
Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter promoted Hammond native Pete Golding from defensive coordinator to interim head coach. He guided the Rebels to the semifinals of the CFP.
“It says to me it’s the most relevant matchup in 64 years with both teams being that relevant,” Kiffin said. “That’s a really neat thing to be a part of building a team there and Pete’s doing a great job of continuing it as a Top 10 program.
“When we got there, they won four games,” Kiffin said of Ole Miss in 2019. “We got here eight months ago and they were 7-6. It’s a really good thing that a lot of people can look at it and say, ‘Both sides are doing really well and both sides won.’”
Trading places
Offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. was among four on-field offensive coaches pulling double duty during the postseason. He joined Kiffin at LSU, helped in the recruiting process that helped lead to 60 new faces at LSU, but was also part of Golding’s staff as offensive coordinator that registered a pair of CFP victories.
Four players also chose to transfer and join Kiffin at LSU with three of them in prominent roles.
Wide receiver Winston Watkins Jr. leads the Tigers with 12 catches for 153 yards and a touchdown, while defensive end Princewill Umanmielen and linebacker TJ Dottery play key for one of the nation’s top defensive units.
Dottery leads the Tigers with 14 tackles and Umanmielen has 11 tackles with 6 ¼ for losses and five sacks where the school record is 12.
“It is unusual,” Kiffin said. “One team we built and now another team that you’re building. Probably a really unusual situation.”
Kiffin told his players Monday they shouldn’t bear the weight of any expectations.
“I guess there’s real safety issues with stuff so that people have to have a plan for that,” he said. “I told the players today, you don’t have anything to worry about as far as attention on you all week. There’s going to be so much attention, hatred on me. You just get to go play.
“The pressure’s on them,” he said. “We won seven games last year. They won 13. They return two Heisman (trophy) candidates. How often has that ever happened in the same backfield. You just get to go play.”
