By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
Circle your calendars.
And cancel any wedding dates on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026.
LSU new football coach Lane Kiffin will return on that date to play Ole Miss, where he was its head coach from 2020-25 before breaking its heart and leaving the Rebels at the altar of the College Football Playoffs.
“Better find a way to fabricate some more security for that game,” college football analyst Cole Cubelic said on the SEC Network’s 2026 schedule reveal on Thursday night.
It’s over. Lane Kiffin is LSU’s next football coach. Press conference introducing him set for Monday at LSU.https://t.co/kTRsVE78Of
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) November 30, 2025
Kiffin did build Ole Miss from mostly mediocrity for five decades into a consistent, double-digit-win program not seen since the days of legendary coach Johnny Vaught in the 1950s and ’60s, but Ole Miss fans will not be thinking about that. Kiffin left them, and took his offensive staff with him.
Those assistant coaches, including offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr., will be coaching Ole Miss through the playoffs, but fans don’t care about that. They’ll be frothing at the mouth and likely hanging Kiffin in effigy near Vaught-Hemingway Stadium and throughout The Grove tailgating area. LSU fans hung former LSU coach Nick Saban in effigy when he returned to LSU for the first time as Alabama’s coach in 2008.
“Won’t have to manifest any emotion for that one,” former Auburn coach Gene Chizik of the SEC Network said of LSU at Ole Miss. “It’s going to be the talk of the town. As big as you can get in Oxford.”
Well, No. 6 Ole Miss does have a playoff game this Dec. 20 against No. 11 Ole Miss in Oxford with a visit to the Sugar Bowl and the second round of the CFP on the line. But that may not be as big as Sept. 19.
Kiffin, who is the first coach in history to coach at three SEC schools, will also visit his other former school when he takes his Tigers to Tennessee on Nov. 21.
COMPLETE 2026 SCHEDULES FOR ALL SEC TEAMS
Another major date on LSU’s schedule will be on Nov. 14 as the Tigers host border school Texas for the first time since 1953. It will also be the neighboring programs first game against one another in the SEC. And Texas quarterback Arch Manning will be the first Manning to play at LSU since his Uncle Eli in 2002. Archie Manning, who is Arch’s grandfather, beat LSU in Tiger Stadium, 27-24, in 1968. Archie’s son Peyton Manning was Tennessee’s quarterback from 1994-97, but never played against LSU.
The Tigers open the season at Clemson on Sept. 5.
LSU’s complete schedule follows.
LSU 2026 FOOTBALL SCHEDULE
Sept. 5 … Clemson at LSU
Sept. 12 … Louisiana Tech at LSU
Sept. 19 … LSU at Ole Miss
Sept. 26 … Texas A&M at LSU
Oct. 3 … McNeese State at LSU
Oct. 10 … LSU at Kentucky
Oct. 17 … Mississippi State at LSU
Oct. 24 … LSU at Auburn
Oct. 31 … LSU open
Nov. 7 … Alabama at LSU
Nov. 14 … Texas at LSU
Nov. 21 … LSU at Tennessee
Nov. 28 … LSU at Arkansas
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