By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
It’s not quite a Game of the Century, but it will be the third highest ranked, regular season pairing in the history of the LSU-Ole Miss rivalry since Halloween Night, 1959.
That was the night No. 1 and defending 11-0 national champion LSU (6-0) beat No. 3 Ole Miss (6-0), by 7-3, on Oct. 31, 1959, in Tiger Stadium when LSU’s Billy Cannon returned a fourth quarter punt 89 yards for a touchdown and into mortality with the Halloween Run that won LSU’s first Heisman Trophy.
No. 2 Ole Miss then beat No. 3 LSU, 21-0, in a rematch that same season at the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans on Jan. 1, 1960, in Tulane Stadium. In 1961, No. 6 LSU beat No. 2 Ole Miss, 10-7, in Tiger Stadium in a previous higher ranked regular season pairing than the next one. And in 1962, No. 6 Ole Miss beat No. 4 LSU, 15-7 at Tiger Stadium in another one.
By strange coincidence, a documentary on the life of Cannon, a Philadelphia, Mississippi native, premieres at 7 p.m. Monday statewide on Louisiana Public Broadcasting.
And on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. No. 7 LSU (2-0) plays at No. 8 Ole Miss (2-0) at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Mississippi, in the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams.
The Tigers jumped from No. 8 to No. 7 in the latest Associated Press poll released Sunday after beating Louisiana Tech, 45-14, Saturday night at Tiger Stadium, and the Rebels (2-0) rose from No. 9 to No. 8 after a 41-9 home win over Charlotte.
“Maybe it was perfect for us, because if we play good on offense, and game is 70-7 or something, then you don’t have their attention.” … Lane Kiffin in Saban Brain Mode: https://t.co/FOkkId5eQg
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) September 13, 2026
Lane Kiffin, who dramatically turned around a struggling Ole Miss program from 2020-25 as head coach, will return to Ole Miss as LSU’s head coach after leaving the Rebels days after completing an 11-1 (7-1 SEC) regular season that put Ole Miss in the College Football Playoff for the first time.
Ole Miss defensive coordinator Pete Golding, a Hammond native whom Kiffin hired away from Alabama after the 2022 season, became Ole Miss’ new head coach after Kiffin left for LSU. Golding won two playoff games to reach the CFP semifinal with several members of Kiffin’s staff in an historical double-dip – recruiting and working with Kiffin at LSU while also coaching under Golding at Ole Miss during the playoffs.
“We’re getting ready to go on the road in the SEC against a really good team that has played really well for years at that place,” Kiffin said Saturday night.
LSU is a 2.5-point favorite to beat the Rebels in Oxford for the first time since a 58-37 win in the 2019 season when the Tigers won the national championship. Kiffin was 3-0 against LSU in Oxford, including a 24-19 win last season.
Texas (2-0), which LSU hosts on Nov. 14, is the new No. 1 team in the nation after New Orleans native quarterback Arch Manning – grandson of Ole Miss quarterback legend Arche Manning – led a furious comeback from a 23-3 deficit entering the final quarter to beat No. 1 Ohio State, 24-23, on Saturday in Austin. Archie Manning beat LSU two out of three while the Rebels quarterback from 1968-70. Archie’s son Eli Manning, who is Arch Manning’s uncle, and the Rebels beat LSU once out of three from 2001-03.
Ohio State (1-1) dropped to No. 6. Georgia (2-0) is No. 2 in the nation, followed by No. 3 Notre Dame (2-0), No. 4 and defending national champion Indiana (2-0) and No. 5 Miami (2-0).
Texas A&M (2-0), which will be at LSU on Sept. 26, is No. 9 in the nation. And Alabama (2-0), which will be at Tiger Stadium on Nov. 7, is No. 10. The second 10 has BYU, USC, Texas Tech, Penn State, Tennessee, SMU, Utah, Iowa, Michigan and Missouri.
No. 15 Tennessee (2-0) will host LSU on Nov. 21.
The No. 21 team is Oregon, which fell 15 spots from No. 6 after getting upset by Oklahoma State, which did not make the poll. The final four teams are No. 22 Houston, Louisville, Oklahoma and Virginia.
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