By KACE KIESCHNICK, Tiger Rag Staff Reporter
LSU football coach Lane Kiffin made headlines on Monday when he said that the pressure would be on Ole Miss when the Tigers take the field in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on Saturday night. That will be even more true if LSU starting quarterback Sam Leavitt does not play after being listed as doubtful with an unspecified injury on Wednesday night.
Lane Kiffin has stretched things on availability reports in the past. Could this be a gamesmanship volley to Ole Miss’ serve of papers to Princewill Umanmielen? https://t.co/UmfMVJpjRg
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) September 17, 2026
Sam Hutchens, who covers the Rebels for the Clarion-Ledger newspaper in Jackson, Mississippi, was not buying what Kiffin’s pressure argument – even before Leavitt’s injury – when he appeared on Tiger Rag Radio on Tuesday night.
“If I had to pick a team with more pressure, then I’d think it’s pretty obvious that it’s Kiffin and LSU,” Hutchens said.
Kiffin pointed out that LSU is coming off a 7-6 season in 2025 while Ole Miss earned a trip to the College Football Playoff semifinal during a 13-2 campaign last season and returns key players such as Heisman Trophy candidates Trinidad Chambliss at quarterback and Kewan Lacy at running back.
And Kiffin told his team to play freely while he handles all the hate coming LSU’s way for Kiffin leaving Ole Miss at the altar following last regular season. And let Ole Miss deal with the pressure of the home crowd expectations.
“I guess Kiffin is trying to make the argument that there’s certainly pressure on Ole Miss, too, in terms of how much this game means to the fan base,” Hutchens said.
Ole Miss fans, like many college football fans across the country, have had Kiffin’s return trip to Oxford circled on the schedule since he left the team last November 30. Only adding to their enthusiasm and hope for a chance to stick it to their former head coach is the return of Chambliss and Lacy, whom Kiffin tried to get to transfer to LSU.
Chambliss wowed in his first season at Ole Miss last season under the tutelage of Kiffin and offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr., who also left Oxford for LSU. A transfer from Division II Ferris State to Ole Miss before teh 2025 season, Chambliss led the Southeastern Conference in passing yards with 3,937 while throwing 22 touchdowns and just three interceptions.
Lacy, a former backup running back at Missouri, finished second in the conference with 1,567 rushing yards and first with 24 touchdowns.
Hutchens, though, believes the eyes of the nation still fall on Kiffin after he chose to leave a program he spent six years building into a College Football Playoff team.
“Lane is the guy who, if you lose this game, then everyone’s going to be grilling nationally,” Hutchens said. “There will be all these columns about – ‘Did you leave the better opportunity for the worst opportunity? Did you become the villain for nothing?’ This is his chance to say, ‘I threw it away for a better opportunity,’ and this is his chance to prove it. So, I think all the pressure is on Lane.”
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