College football analyst says all the pressure is on Lane Kiffin ahead of Ole Miss-LSU battle
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After the college football world watched Week 2’s highly anticipated Ohio State-Texas matchup, Week 3 brings another mega-stakes matchup. This time, it will be an opportunity for a school to exact revenge against its old head coach.
The No. 7 LSU Tigers will head to Mississippi to take on the No. 8 Ole Miss Rebels. LSU head coach Lane Kiffin will surely receive a generous, warm welcome from the program he abandoned before last year’s playoff run. If anything, though, Kiffin may be facing pressure from all angles.
ESPN college football analyst Paul Finebaum said he believes all eyes are on Kiffin, and the pressure will be high in this top-10 matchup.
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“The pressure is all on him. He is the one that left them behind. They are the jilted lover. He ran off to whatever island he decided to build a mansion on, which happened to be in Louisiana. … That is just Lane Kiffin being Lane Kiffin.” Finebaum said on “Get Up.”
All eyes on Kiffin
The college football world will be watching this one closely. There’s no doubt the emotions from the Ole Miss faithful will be filled to the brim and create an environment that hasn’t been seen in decades.
Probably the last time Kiffin faced an environment like this was when he was, ironically, Ole Miss’ head coach. He and Ole Miss traveled to Tennessee in 2021, and those fans still felt ill about the way he abandoned the Volunteers in 2010.
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That game produced a hostile environment for Kiffin, but this matchup could carry even more weight. Kiffin did not simply leave Ole Miss for another coaching opportunity after the season. He departed while the Rebels were preparing for the College Football Playoff, leaving behind a program that trusted him to take it to the next level.
Now, Kiffin returns to Oxford as the opposing coach, bringing LSU into one of the biggest games of the season. The Rebels will have plenty of motivation, but the challenge will be channeling that emotion into execution.
LSU also enters the matchup with plenty at stake. A road victory over a top-10 opponent would immediately strengthen Kiffin’s standing with his new program while adding another major win to the Tigers’ resume.
For Kiffin, however, the storyline will be impossible to escape. Every camera, question and reaction will center on his return to Oxford. The only way to quiet the noise may be to leave Vaught-Hemingway Stadium with a victory.
LSU and Ole Miss square off at 7:30 p.m. ET Saturday on ABC.
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