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Lane Kiffin's return to Ole Miss as the LSU coach will come on Sept. 19 in what figures to be one of the most charged and raucous environments of the 2026 college football season. The game's date was revealed Thursday as the SEC announced its 2026 schedule, which will feature nine league contests for each team.

Few will be more anticipated than Ole Miss hosting LSU and Kiffin, who left the Rebels before their 2025 College Football Playoff run to accept the Tigers' head coaching job. While Kiffin elevated Ole Miss to historic levels during his six-year run, his untidy exit for a conference rival relegated him to pariah status in the state of Mississippi.

If his return is anything like his exit, Kiffin be on the recipient of intense vitriol at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, which has an official capacity of 64,038.

Ole Miss fans sent Kiffin off with a chorus of jeers and one-finger salutes as he boarded a plane in Oxford, Mississippi, bound for LSU two days after the Rebels reached a program-record 11 regular-season victories. It is just the latest dramatic job transition for Kiffin, who tried desperately to rehabilitate his image during his time at Ole Miss.

Inside the weeks of turmoil that drove Lane Kiffin from Ole Miss to LSU -- with a hard pass on Florida
John Talty
Inside the weeks of turmoil that drove Lane Kiffin from Ole Miss to LSU -- with a hard pass on Florida

Over roughly a year leading up to his departure, Kiffin added new layers to his public persona by touting his sobriety, improved family life and elevated emotional wellness, achieved in part by a steady devotion to yoga. With Ole Miss surging to a third consecutive 10+ win season behind strong institutional support and Kiffin appearing to have found a once-elusive inner-peace, the idea of a long-term tenure in Oxford seemed possible, if not likely.

But when LSU fired Brian Kelly after a 5-3 start, cracks in that foundation multiplied quickly. Already pursued by Florida for its head coaching vacancy, Kiffin suddenly had two SEC programs with multiple 21st century national championships vying for his services.

Even while attempting to project a "business as usual" mantra at Ole Miss, it was clear Kiffin's mind was elsewhere. Members of his family took visits to both Gainesville, Florida, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, shortly after the Rebels beat Florida on Nov. 15.

Returning to a stadium where he is loathed won't be new for Kiffin, who has been back to Tennessee three times as either Alabama's offensive coordinator or as the Ole Miss head coach since leaving the Volunteers for USC after a one-year stint as the program's head coach in 2009. He will coach at Tennessee again in 2026 as the Tigers travel to Neyland Stadium in 2026 as well. 

However, his return to Ole Miss with LSU will mark the first time he's ever coached against the school he left just one season later. That the game is at Ole Miss only adds to the intrigue of what figures to be a wild scene.