A military flyover took place Friday afternoon over Oxford’s iconic Square ahead of Saturday’s matchup, when Ole Miss will welcome Lane Kiffin back to campus in a game 10 months in the making.
Fans streamed through the area, buying up Ole Miss gear while making stops within local restaurants to kick their weekend off.
There is nothing quite like Oxford, Mississippi, from its Southern charm to the small-town feel that defines it. An estimated 300,000 people are expected on campus today, with most of them partying in “The Grove” like it’s going out of style.
The truth is, fans have had this weekend circled for 10 months.
Ole Miss faithful are going to try to unleash nearly a year’s worth of aggravation over 24 hours, hoping to party into the early morning hours Sunday — or at least until local police kick them out around 1 a.m. CT — regardless of the outcome.
Scenes that look more like something out of a John Grisham thriller tucked away in a small Mississippi town, it’s not hard to notice how much this means to a fan base that has been put through the ringer over these past 10 months.
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In reality, they have a team capable a competing for a national championship this season. But first, they have a lot to get off their chest when it comes to their former head coach, Lane Kiffin.
A man who captivated a fan base, led them to heights rarely achieved and had them finally in the college football playoff after fumbling the opportunity in 2025, left them for a better job.
But, it was how he left Ole Miss that will forever tarnish his legacy in Oxford. This, along with trying to take nearly every star on the Rebels football team, left fans with a worse feeling than had he just bolted for LSU without trying to burn it all down on the way out.
Looking back, Lane has admitted to those around him that he should have handled the entire situation better. Maybe this weekend doesn’t contain as much vitriol.
Maybe, Kiffin receives plenty of boos from the crowd, but deep down inside they are content with how things would have played out if he had chosen to act like a grown-up during the entire ordeal while contemplating whether to take the Florida or LSU job.
But, we don’t live in a “what if” world.
We live in reality, and that will be welcomed by Lane on Saturday when he walks off the bus that is tucked away inside a fenced-in area just outside Vaught Hemingway Stadium.
There is not much Ole Miss fans can say to Kiffin that he isn’t already prepared for. But, that doesn’t mean deep down inside it doesn’t bother him. As much as he loves playing the villain, he’s still just a guy who feels lost at times without his father around any longer.
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Roaming around “The Grove” on Friday afternoon, Ole Miss fans had plenty to say about their former head coach, and the guy they worshiped for nearly six years.
“Man, I’m not gonna lie bro, F— Lane Kiffin,” one Rebels fan said. “Lane Kiffin is ‘K’ bro. We smokin’ him, no cap. Whatever Lane Kiffin did, it’s bulls—. He could have waited to leave until after the season. Nah, he wanted to wait until he got us to the playoff to leave.
“F— Lane Kiffin, bro. And, f— LSU.”
There’s no denying we are about to witness one of the more cinematic scenes in this sport’s history.
I was in Austin last weekend as Arch Manning led Texas to the comeback win over Ohio State, and I’m still amazed at what I witnessed.
But, even that monumental game does not have the built-in drama compared to what we will witness inside Vaught Hemingway Stadium.
Lane Kiffin will stroll off the LSU bus later this afternoon, acting as if none of the noise is bothering him. He will walk into a stadium that he helped revitalize, alongside a number of assistant coaches on his LSU staff that helped him do it in this same town.
On the other side, Pete Golding will receive a hero’s welcome when he takes his first steps onto the field in front of the Ole Miss student section.
It’s fitting. After the past ten months of buildup to this matchup that feels more like a heavyweight fight we used to witness in the late ’90s.
I’m fascinated to see how this plays out, alongside 60,000 fans wearing mostly powder blue and red, with a smattering of purple and gold.
We made it.
No more talking. No more jabs being traded through social media and television networks.
The only thing left to do is watch two teams trade haymakers for 60 minutes, with Lane Kiffin and Pete Golding entrenched in their own war along each sideline.
