LSU football still has numerous players who played for former coach Brian Kelly, who was fired by the Tigers during the middle of the 2025 season. Kelly doesn't think the Tigers can go on the road and beat Ole Miss on Saturday, Sept. 19, with new coach Lane Kiffin at the helm.
No. 9 Ole Miss hosts No. 7 LSU in the SEC's primetime window at 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC, with ESPN's "College GameDay" in town. The most-anticipated game of the week has more going for it than just being a top-10 ranked matchup, as it's Kiffin's first game back in Oxford, Mississippi, after leaving the Rebels for LSU before the College Football Playoff last season.
Kelly, now
an analyst with CBS, said Sept. 15 he expects the home atmosphere to play a huge role for Ole Miss.
"The home team has won this matchup in the last four years," Kelly said. "So, 2-2 over the last four years and it has been the home team winning close games — overtime, one-score games. So, we already know what the outcome is. This is going to be a close game.
"So, I'm going to lean with the home team here. When you go on the road in the SEC, the home crowd makes a difference."
"When you go on the road in the SEC, the home crowd makes a difference."@CoachBrianKelly is leaning towards Ole Miss beating LSU. #ICF pic.twitter.com/3zYYk68CwU
— CBS Sports College Football 🏈 (@CBSSportsCFB) September 16, 2026
Kelly was dismissed following LSU's 49-20 road loss last season to Texas A&M, marking the program's third loss in four games after opening the season ranked in the top 10. Kelly took the Tigers to the SEC championship game in his first season at the helm in 2022 and went 3-0 in bowl games, although he never reached the College Football Playoff.
Multiple of LSU's best players like tight end Trey'Dez Green, linebacker Whit Weeks and cornerback DJ Pickett were on last season's roster coached by Kelly and lost to Ole Miss 24-19 on the road. The Tigers beat Ole Miss in 2022 and 2024 under Kelly, with losses against the Rebels in 2023 and 2025.
Kelly said it won't be easy traveling to Oxford, Mississippi, and coming out alive.
"LSU-Ole Miss is a rivalry game," he said. "It's a border war. That now, with the backdrop of everything else, has created obviously what we have. This is going to be a heck of a football game. Playing in the SEC, when you go on the road, regardless of what all the other circumstances are, you better be ready to play because this is going to be one fun football game to watch."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Former LSU coach Brian Kelly picks Ole Miss to beat Tigers, Lane Kiffin
