The 2025 season ain’t even in the rearview, but the newly crowned LSU Tigers’ head coach, Lane Kiffin, already got fans losing sleep over 2026. His messy split with the Ole Miss Rebels only spices the drama. Now, the LSU vs. Rebels 2026 face-off date has just landed. Mark your calendars for chaos.

“SEC OPENER FOR BOTH TEAMS 🍿,” SEC Network posted the latest update on December 11. “Lane Kiffin returns to Oxford in Week 3 👀.” 

Mark it. Highlight it. Frame it. September 19 is that day in 2026, guaranteed to be one of the rowdiest scenes in college football. And with every team locked in for nine league matchups next season, the heat’s only going up.

Few showdowns will hit harder than Ole Miss rolling out the welcome mat, this time with their former head coach, Kiffin, as the rival. He is the one who boosted the Rebels to history. Kiffin logged six seasons in Oxford, and the turnaround was wild. Ole Miss had hit double-digit wins only twice in 50 years, but with Kiffin at the wheel, they ripped off 10+ victories in four of the last five seasons.

He then bounced for a conference rival right before their playoff run. Mississippi hasn’t forgiven a thing, and when he walks into Vaught-Hemingway, expect 64,038 fans ready to unleash every decibel of their rage.

Ole Miss will be coached by former defensive coordinator Pete Golding in that game. Besides the test against the Rebels, Kiffin and co. will be facing off against the Kentucky Wildcats on October 10, the Auburn Tigers on October 24, among others.

LSU’s 2026 slate is basically the Lane Kiffin Reunion Tour. They hit the Alabama Crimson Tide on November 7, where Kiffin once cooked up plays for Nick Saban from 2014-16. The Tigers will then roll into Knoxville for a Tennessee trip on November 21. 

But out of all, the Ole Miss vs LSU game comes up with a revenge plot. Before this year’s face-off, the Tigers held an edge in the all-time series between the two teams at 66-43-4. However, this season, the Rebels added a 24-19 victory.

Kiffin and Ole Miss rolled into Week 5 with one of the nation’s softest run defenses, bleeding 190 rushing yards a game. With LSU missing starter Caden Durham, the matchup looked like a perfect chance for the Tigers’ ground game to finally pop.

But the Rebels had other plans. LSU mustered just 57 yards on 22 carries, a brutal 2.6 yards per tote against a defense everyone else had been shredding. Game day hype in Oxford sent ticket prices skyrocketing, with the lowest StubHub option at $202 and premium seats stretching past the $2,000 mark.

Now that Kiffin has had an ugly exit, will it tone down the fans’ excitement?

Lane Kiffin’s ugly tactics with staff poaching threats exposed

Once Brian Kelly was shown the door on October 26, Baton Rouge couldn’t stop buzzing about the Kiffins. Landry Kiffin was spotted at an LSU Women’s Booster Club event, and the Tigers even arranged a private jet for the family’s LSU trip. Still, the head coach kept preaching loyalty to the Ole Miss camp.

Fans never bought the “pure coincidence” angle on Kiffin’s timing. LSU wasn’t his dream landing spot; Alabama was. But once Kalen DeBoer locked down the Tide job with that Iron Bowl win, Kiffin finally saw the Bama door slam shut. 

So even while publicly pledging loyalty to Ole Miss, he was low-key weighing every option on the table. Along with this, Kiffin tarnished his image by trying to poach some coaches away. Reports say Kiffin’s power move was simple: approve his postseason request, or watch him walk out the door with his offensive staff in tow.

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Meanwhile, the locker room had iced him out. Kiffin insisted the team wanted him to guide them to the playoffs. But the players quickly shot that down.

“That was not the message you said in the meeting room. Everybody who was in there can vouch for this,” Ole Miss linebacker Suntarine Perkins did not mince his words. 

Despite all the shots fired his way, Kiffin still rolled into Baton Rouge with a slice of Ole Miss in tow. Co-offensive coordinator and tight ends coach Joe Cox, passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach George McDonald, assistant quarterbacks coach Dane Stevens, and senior analyst and inside receivers coach Sawyer Jordan.

But will this Rebel DNA be enough to spark a 2026 surge for the Tigers?