By KACE KIESCHNICK, Tiger Rag Staff Reporter
No. 7 LSU (2-0) and No. 8 (2-0) Ole Miss are preparing for an emotionally charged game in Oxford, Mississippi, on Saturday as LSU coach Lane Kiffin returns to where he coached from 2020-25.
The eyes of the college football world will be on Vaught-Hemingway Stadium when the Tigers and Rebels kick off at 6:30 p.m. on ABC with ESPN’s College GameDay kicking off coverage from campus at 9 a.m. in just its third trip to Oxford.
But Rebels head coach Pete Golding is not embracing the dramatic storylines of one of the most highly anticipated games in the program’s history.
“I think it’s going to be the team that can eliminate the noise and the distractions to be able to focus on preparing the right way and practicing really well, taking care of the football, tackling extremely well on defense and eliminating explosive plays, that’s going to win the game,” Golding said at his weekly press conference on Monday.
That will not stop LSU, Ole Miss and college football fans across the country who are enamored by Kiffin’s messy divorce with Ole Miss and his vitriolic return.
After six seasons at Ole Miss, Kiffin, of course, left the program on Nov. 30 of last year as the Rebels were preparing for a trip to the College Football Playoff. He took the vacant head coaching position at LSU and left Golding, then the defensive coordinator, to take over as the Rebels’ interim head coach. Kiffin did want to continue coaching his team through the postseason, but was not allowed to do so by Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter.
Golding, though, is pushing their history aside as both teams prepare for their first Southeastern Conference contest of the season.
“If you don’t prepare really well and practice really well and play your best game, you’re probably not going to win the game regardless of who it is,” he said. “I think we’ve got a mature enough group to understand that it’s going to be a hard football game. They’re a really good football team — got a good quarterback, good skill, really good on defense, but we got good players, too. And we’re going to have to prepare the right way this week and get locked in and get focused.”
Golding, who had no prior head coaching experience before the postseason last year, said he will approach the matchup with LSU like any other game, and he has not heard his players speak about it any differently either.
“We haven’t had an open discussion of why this game is so different than another game,” Golding said. “I know everybody’s going to make it that way — and I’m not saying some of them don’t feel that way — but if it’s a top-10 matchup, and it’s at home, and it’s SEC play, and you’re on GameDay, I think whether coach Kiffin was coaching this team or not, in order for their preparation to be the right way to win the game, I think it’s going to be exactly the same.”
That was not the story during Kiffin’s departure. Reports conflicted on whether players and staffers really wanted Kiffin to stay as head coach through the playoff run after exploring coaching jobs at LSU, Florida and Florida State. Tensions only rose as 10 assistants, including offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr., followed Kiffin to Baton Rouge.
Starting linebacker TJ Dottery, defensive end Princewill Umanmielen, offensive lineman Devin Harper and wide receiver Winston Watkins Jr. all chose to enter the transfer portal and come to LSU as well. The Tigers lost running back coach Frank Wilson to the Rebels and rumors swirled about player recruitment and tampering across the two programs.
When it was all said and done, 34 coaches, players and staff members ended up switching sides of the Magnolia Bowl.
On the field, the familiarity between the programs has a significant impact. Kiffin spoke during his weekly press conference about how he believes Golding and the Rebels have an advantage against him since, as the head coach, he was more vocal about what schemes he preferred and struggled against. Golding, though, said three years worth of intel from practice and scrimmages can cause another issue.
“Sometimes you make it a lot harder than it should be when you know somebody really well, but we know it’s going to be really challenging,” Golding said. “Charlie does a really good job. Obviously, Lane does a really good job on game day as well — got a good quarterback. So I think it’s good that there’s familiarity, but also sometimes for coaches, we overthink it a little bit.”
Golding said that it has been difficult to evaluate Kiffin and Weis’ LSU offense because of the early leads it took against Clemson and Louisiana Tech. Golding said that he has already identified some of their trademark tendencies like the tempo and explosive plays, but Kiffin and Weis have not put out the full menu.
“They do a really good job, and always have, of setting things up as far as sequencing plays and giving you certain pictures in some games that come back and work compliments off of it and all that,” Golding said. “You try to always be a step ahead, but those guys definitely do a really good job.”
He said he has also seen those former Rebels flash on the tape and the historic start of the LSU defense. On offense, Watkins leads LSU with 12 catches for 153 yards and a touchdown through the first two games and has been on the field for 130 snaps, second among LSU receivers behind tight end Trey’Dez Green.
“He’s a big, big piece of that offense, Golding said. “Obviously one of the only ones on the offense that already knew the offense, which is a huge hand, but we know what type of athlete he is and the ability that he has when he has the ball in space.”
The “Bayou Bandits” defense has been historically dominant. The starters have allowed just three points and four non-penalty first downs through two games and given up 54 total yards of offense in the first half this season.
Dottery and Umanmielen are no small part of that success. Umanmielen has already racked up 4.5 sacks to go along with 6.5 tackles for loss and 11 total tackles. Dottery leads the Tigers with 14 total tackles and two forced fumbles.
“We know what type of pass rusher (Umanmielen) is,” Golding said. “We know what type of football player TJ is and his leadership and his football intelligence. So, I’m not surprised by anything that I read about them or see their stats. There’s a reason they started for us.”
But Kiffin and Weis have also brought in new playmakers — none more explosive than Arizona State transfer quarterback Sam Leavitt. Leavitt has completed 41 of 66 passes for 574 yards, two touchdowns and four interceptions. More impressively, he is LSU’s second-leading rusher behind running back Dilin Jones with 23 carries for 135 yards and five touchdowns.
“I’ve just been really impressed with his athleticism once he decides to become a runner. I think it’s going to be really important to try to make him become a pocket passer, and he’s got some good weapons on the perimeter. But for me, for sure, it’s been his athleticism once he decides not to throw it and tuck it and run it. He’s a lot more explosive, he’s got better top-end speed than I knew, especially coming off of an injury,” Golding said.
Ole Miss, though, will easily be the toughest opponents LSU has faced this season. Not only will the Rebels be their first SEC foe and ranked matchup, it will also be the first away trip for LSU this season. And the crowd at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium may have a thing or two to say about their former head coach.
Kiffin infamously was greeted by projectile golf balls, mustard bottles, beer cans and water bottles when he returned as Ole Miss’ coach in 2021 to the opposing sideline at Tennessee, where he coached for one season before leaving for USC in 2010. Ole Miss fans harbor a similar hatred for their ex-football coach, but Golding had a placating message to the Oxford community.
“We want to create a really really good environment like they always have for a top-10 matchup,” he said, “for it to be really hard to play offense in that stadium and be there early and be loud, but I think at the end of it there’s still a respect piece.”
Golding said the first thing he thinks about when he thinks of Oxford is the quality of its people and the respect and hospitality of the community.
“Let’s not lose that over a game, over a person or anything else like that,” Golding said. “There’s nothing wrong with being competitive, and being in the moment, and being really loud and being an unbelievable fan, and providing an unbelievable atmosphere for our players and really hard to play in for their players, but at the end of the day, don’t don’t lose what we’ve created and what they’ve created for so long, which is a really good, unique place with really, really good people that’s really hard to play.”
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