After months of anticipation and mounting storylines, one of the most vitriolic games of the college football season has finally arrived.
It'sLane Kiffin's first return to Oxford, Mississippi since he bolted for another SEC program.
The 7:30 p.m. ET kickoff at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium is expected to produce one of the most hostile atmospheres in sports history, as many Ole Miss fans have yet to forgive Kiffin for leaving the Rebels for their SEC rival just weeks before the Rebels made a College Football Playoff run.
Kiffin's homecoming is unlike any other in recent college football memory, with only Nick Saban's return to LSU with Alabama a comparison,
though Saban's return to Baton Rouge came after a brief stint in the NFL with the Miami Dolphins. Kiffin returned to Tennessee in 2021 as an opposing head coach, but that wasn't his first return to Rocky Top since he left the Vols for USC, as he checked that off as an assistant coach under Saban at Alabama in 2014.
"He left Ole Miss because LSU was the glory. That's where everything he wanted was," ESPN's Paul Finebaum said on "Get Up" earlier this week. "...He didn't think he could win at Ole Miss. He left them behind. They feel pretty badly about it. They are carrying that torch against Lane Kiffin and will not let it go."
That said, how did Kiffin get from Oxford to Baton Rouge?
How did Lane Kiffin end up at LSU?
It started with LSU's decision to part ways with Brian Kelly on Oct. 26. The Tigers fired Kelly following a 49-25 home loss to Texas A&M, a defeat that marked LSU's third straight loss to a ranked opponent. Kelly finished his tenure in Baton Rouge with a 34-14 overall record.
Kelly was eventually fired without cause, giving him a near $54 million buyout, the second-largest in college football history, only behind Jimbo Fischer's at Texas A&M.
Kiffin had been linked to other Power Four jobs in last season's coaching carousel, including Florida and Florida State.
The rumor mill began to really churn on Friday, Nov. 28 when Ole Miss took on Mississippi State in the Egg Bowl. In a postgame news conference following the Rebels' rivalry win, Kiffin told ESPN's Taylor McGregor that he had not come to a decision about his future in Oxford and that he had some "praying" to do.
A decision from Kiffin on whether he would stay at Ole Miss or take another job was expected after the game, according to athletic director Keith Carter. Instead, that decision was delayed until two days later, when Kiffin ultimately made his choice on Nov. 30, 2025.
Kiffin spent a significant amount of time on Nov. 29 of last year talking with Carter and Ole Miss chancellor Glenn Boyce. That conversation continued into Sunday and was centered on Kiffin's request to coach the Rebels in the College Football Playoff, even though he was going to take the LSU job. His request was ultimately not met by Ole Miss.
There had been a possibility that Ole Miss was going to clinch a spot in the SEC championship game, which could have both prolonged Kiffin's tenure at Ole Miss and made Carter decide on whether he'd allow Kiffin to coach the game if he still left for LSU, but with Alabama winning the Iron Bowl against Auburn, those chances were squashed.
"(Kiffin) had an opportunity to coach in the playoff, and that would have been to stay at Ole Miss, and he chose not to do that," Carter told ESPN last December. "That's his choice, and I respect that choice. But then we had to make a choice, and talking with the team and spending time with them, I think they know they need coaches to make a playoff run.
"I think they were very concerned about their position coaches and those types of things. But I think they understood when someone takes a job at another place — and not only another place but one of our rivals and a team that will be playing in our stadium next year — I think that's something that nobody feels comfortable with."
The ex-Rebels coach announced on X (formerly Twitter) that he was taking the LSU job on Nov. 30. He was shortly thereafter met by an angry Ole Miss fanbase at the Oxford airport.
What next took place at the Oxford airport was later denied by the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, but Kiffin claimed during his LSU introductory news conference that he was being run off the road by Ole Miss fans as he was trying to get to LSU's private jet.
As noted by USA TODAY Sports' Blake Toppmeyer, the initial plan for LSU to pick up Kiffin from Oxford was to send its plane from the Tupelo airport, which is located 50 miles from Ole Miss' campus. That plan changed while LSU athletic director Verge Ausberry and other members of LSU's brass were already in flight.
"I said, 'We’re going where? Oxford? They’ll be shooting missiles at us,'" Ausberry said.
Also in his introductory press conference, Kiffin said he chose LSU because LSU is "different."
"This place is different. Having watched this place for a long time and from the other sideline. This place is different, and that’s why we’re here," Kiffin said at his introductory news conference.
Kiffin also brought several members of his Ole Miss staff with him to LSU, including offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr., a move that sparked additional backlash during the early weeks of the transition and further anger among Rebels fans as Ole Miss went through the College Football Playoff.
Lane Kiffin record at Ole Miss
Below is a year-by-year breakdown on how Ole Miss fared under Kiffin:
- 2020: 5-5
- 2021: 10-3 (Sugar Bowl)
- 2022: 8-5 (Texas Bowl)
- 2023: 11-2 (Peach Bowl)
- 2024: 10-3 (Gator Bowl)
- 2025: 11-1
Be sure to check out USA TODAY Sports' new College Football Unfiltered podcast, hosted by USA TODAY Sports columnist Blake Toppmeyer. You can stream on YouTube or download via Apple podcasts and Spotify.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Lane Kiffin chose to leave Ole Miss for LSU. How did historic move happen?
