OXFORD, Miss. — Ole Miss fans have been waiting for this game since Lane Kiffin left town 10 months ago for LSU, so one more day won’t hurt. But that doesn’t mean the animosity toward their former head coach in Oxford has to simmer down before kickoff.
It took me around five minutes of traversing campus to start hearing the banter about the guy who used to roam the Rebels’ sidelines for six years.
As he makes his way back to Oxford on Saturday afternoon to lead his Tigers into hostile territory, it’s pretty obvious that a large percentage of the fan base still holds a grudge for the way in which Lane Kiffin bolted town after Thanksgiving last year, and just two weeks before the College Football Playoff was set to begin.
“Man, I’m not gonna lie. F— Lane Kiffin. Lane Kiffin’s ‘K’, we smokin him bro, no cap,” one Ole Miss student said inside “The Grove” on Friday afternoon.
He wasn’t alone in his thoughts, as you could imagine around the Ole Miss campus.
“Man, he’s dust,” another Ole Miss student exclaimed. “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.”
On a beautiful, but hot, Friday afternoon in Oxford, fans flooded the historic Square located in the middle of downtown Oxford for some good eats and drinking.
The party atmosphere started on Wednesday night, and I don’t imagine this thing comes to an end until sometime Sunday afternoon. No matter what takes place on the field inside Vaught Hemingway Stadium on Saturday evening, LSU head coach Lane Kiffin will be at the forefront of a hostile environment.
At this point, fans were expecting nothing less.
Months of talking through social media, Vanity Fair, podcasts and interviews, Lane Kiffin is clearly enjoying the attention that he’s garnering before this showdown with his former team.
And, if any one thinks different, you don’t know Kiffin. Think of it as a professional wrestler drawing boos from a crowded arena. Now, think of Lane playing the role of Hulk Hogan’s NWO persona.
Everything is a show, and Kiffin is selling advertisement for his return to Oxford.
Think about what took place earlier this week when the LSU head coach put Sam Leavitt on the initial injury report, listing him as ‘doubtful’, before upgrading him to ‘questionable’ on Thursday evening.
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Ole Miss head coach Pete Golding wasn’t buying it, not for one minute.
“Well, I got the text before the report went out from Lane, like ‘Hey, our quarterback’s out,'” Golding mentioned to 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.'”
There will be trash talking that takes place on Saturday that would make a standup comedian blush.
Most of it will be directed at Lane Kiffin, while LSU fans will undoubtedly take some of the heat on deflection.
But, this is what makes college football so great. A wild day around the campus of Ole Miss awaits, along with the official arrival of the most hated man in the state of Mississippi.
