All eyes during Week 3 will be on Oxford, Mississippi. Lane Kiffin returns to the program he abandoned with his flashy new one. But before the undefeated Tigers coach can prove his point on the gridiron, he first needs to reach it.
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When Trinidad Chambliss called on the home crowd to add pressure on the opponent, it would have been fine for any other program. This time, his words may have acted like setting a match to a powder keg. Enough for HC Kiffin himself to end up acknowledging it.
“I guess there are real safety issues and stuff. There are people, but I have a plan for that,” Kiffin said at his press conference. This should not come as a surprise to someone who claimed Rebels fans allegedly tried to run him off the road to the airport during his infamous escape to Baton Rouge.
For a passionate football community who had just gotten their first break into the playoffs, the heartbreak of their head coach leaving for greener pastures can lead some individuals to act out. This is why the Oxford Police has had to step in and try to bring some calm and peace to this heated rivalry.
“I feel like it will probably be one of the biggest crowds that any of us have ever seen, and so you take that into consideration,” said Oxford Police Chief Jeff McCutchen to WTVA’s Jake Holcomb on September 15. There are reports of increased police presence around the stadium and campus to ensure security is maintained.
Had Chambliss known the extent of this situation, maybe he would have chosen softer words. Instead he went all out. While speaking to reporters via The Rebel Walk, Chambliss urged the fanbase to turn the stadium into a wall of noise: “Bring it. You know, make it as loud as you can. Put as much pressure as you can on that offense.” With fans tailgating early and a stadium-wide Stripe Out planned, his call to action added fuel to an already volatile environment. Even Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry ended up commenting on this development with a funny joke to try and lighten the mood.
“I’m thinking about having to send him in on an F-16 and maybe the team on a C-130,” Landry told ESPN as reported by Mark Schlabach on September 15. “Security is going to be really tight. You know, we might need the National Guard out there to protect our team. I think it’s going to be an interesting weekend.” These rumors of bringing the national guard to further reinforce the local police has been clarified to be untrue.
“I know that we’ve been talking with Mississippi and making sure that we have adequate security for the team and coach,” Landry said. “But I’m hoping that we can go there and play in complete Southern hospitality and have a great, great game.” But if the peace can be maintained, the home crowd advantage during the game is indeed a real edge to the Rebels.
By calling on fans to create relentless noise, Chambliss is aiming to let the crowd mentally bully the visiting Tigers and force pre-snap mistakes. When reporters cornered Kiffin and asked how his squad would handle the deafening noise and intense communication breakdowns, he dropped a quote that turned some heads.
“It is what it is. I told the players today, ‘You don’t have anything to worry about as far as attention on you all week,” Kiffin said. “There is just going to be so much attention, hatred, and everything on me.’ I told them, ‘You just get to go play.’ Really, the pressure is on them.”
By taking the heat onto himself, Kiffin is trying to free his players from anxiety. He reminded reporters that Ole Miss is coming off a massive 13-win season and boasts two Heisman candidates in their backfield with Kewan Lacey and Trinidad Chambliss. He noted that having such a combination of talent in the same backfield is rare, comparing it to the USC Trojans team that had Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush.
By contrast, Kiffin pointed out that his LSU squad only won seven games last year, meaning his team can play loose and free as the underdogs. His psychological warfare strategy is simple: convince his Tigers that all the pressure is resting squarely on the Rebels, hoping it gives his team the mental edge to survive the chaos.
The deep-seated hatred runs incredibly deep because of the cruel way Kiffin exited Oxford last December. Fans feel backstabbed because he repeatedly insisted all the job rumors were fake news, only to take off for Baton Rouge overnight and take nearly twenty staff members with him.
The insane hype for this grudge match has completely broken the secondary ticket market. Word is, the cheapest nosebleed seats in the house start at about a staggering $580. It is officially the hottest, most expensive ticket in college football this weekend, and the rowdy crowd is expected to act as a literal twelfth defender to help out an Ole Miss defense that critics think might be a bit too soft to stop LSU on its own.
Heading into the weekend, both squads are sitting perfectly undefeated at 2-0, making the actual stakes on the field just as high as the soap opera drama off it. In this brand-new expanded 12-team playoff format, an early-season SEC loss won’t completely kill a championship run, but it erases any cushion the loser has for the rest of the year.
Ole Miss is flying high after crushing Charlotte 41-9, while LSU is looking to sharpen up after a sleepy first half against Louisiana Tech last week. We will see this Saturday if Kiffin’s security detail and game plan can handle the absolute storm waiting for him in Oxford.