OXFORD, Miss. — Ten months after Lane Kiffin left Ole Miss to take the head coaching job at LSU, the animosity toward him in Oxford has not faded. Kiffin returns to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on Saturday afternoon leading the Tigers into what fans and observers describe as hostile territory.
Kiffin departed Ole Miss after Thanksgiving last year, just two weeks before the College Football Playoff was set to begin, a timing that many fans in Oxford have not forgotten.
On the University of Mississippi campus Friday afternoon, students did not hide their feelings. One student said, “Man, I’m not gonna lie. F— Lane Kiffin. Lane Kiffin’s ‘K’, we smokin him bro, no cap.”
Another student was equally blunt. “Man, he’s dust,” the student said. “He’s nothing but dust. He’s defiantly scheming, he knows what he’s doing, whether that’s putting Leavitt on the injury report, he’s f—ing playing. He’s just a scumbag.”
Fans filled the historic Square in downtown Oxford on a hot Friday afternoon for food and drinks, part of a party atmosphere that began Wednesday night and is not expected to end until sometime Sunday afternoon. Regardless of the outcome on the field, Kiffin has become the central figure of the weekend.
Kiffin has spent months keeping himself in the spotlight ahead of the matchup through social media, a Vanity Fair feature, podcasts and interviews.
A Dispute Over the Injury Report
Tension between the programs flared this week over LSU’s handling of quarterback Sam Leavitt’s injury status. Kiffin’s staff initially listed Leavitt as “doubtful” on the SEC’s injury report before upgrading him to “questionable” on Thursday evening.
Ole Miss head coach Pete Golding was skeptical of the move. “Well, I got the text before the report went out from Lane, like ‘Hey, our quarterback’s out,'” Golding told Pat McAfee. “I’m like, ‘Ok buddy, I bet he is.’ I’ve been around here a lot of Wednesday’s with you man for three and half years. I said, I think our first one had 42 guys on the first ever SEC injury report on a Wednesday. So, I was like, ‘Yea man, see ya Saturday.'”
Local authorities in Oxford and Lafayette County have prepared for the crowds and the charged atmosphere surrounding the game, adding mounted police and extra patrols ahead of kickoff.
Trash talk aimed at Kiffin is expected to dominate the day, with LSU fans absorbing some of the overflow. Whatever happens on the scoreboard, Kiffin’s arrival in Oxford marks what many in the state are calling the return of its most unpopular figure in college football.
