Ole Miss is beefing up its police presence to help with crowd control as LSU coach Lane Kiffin returns to Oxford, Miss., for a Southeastern Conference showdown.
Saturday night’s clash between the former Mississippi coach’s No. 7 Tigers (2-0) and the No. 8 Rebels (2-0) will include security reinforcements and mounted patrols from Mobile, Ala., and New Orleans.
“We’ve had huge games in Oxford before. We’re not naive,” Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter told the Memphis Touchdown Club on Monday. “We understand that there’s some other storylines to this one. We’re going to be prepared for all scenarios. We’re going to have some bolstered security and things like that that I think we’ll be good. The hope is that we can keep the play on the field the main story.”
Kiffin coached the Rebels from 2020-25, leading them to the College Football Playoff last season before jilting Ole Miss and departing for Baton Rouge in advance of the start of the postseason.
Ole Miss promoted Pete Golding, Kiffin’s defensive coordinator, to fill the position and Saturday night will mark the first time they have faced each other. Golding coached the Rebels in the playoffs.
An Oxford Police Department spokesperson told Front Office Sports that the out-of-town police officers will help to patrol downtown Oxford and surrounding areas.
“It’s beyond just crowd control,” the spokesperson said. “Just extra presence where they can be there and on horseback. One of the coolest things is they kind of have a good vantage point. They’re up higher. They can see things and they can look in the crowds and make sure that everyone’s OK. It’s a public safety thing for sure.”
Both Golding and Carter encouraged fans to behave themselves as the Rebels look to extend their 13-game home winning streak.
“There’s nothing wrong with being competitive and being in the moment,” Golding said. “But at the end of the day, don’t lose what we’ve created for so long, which is a really good, unique place with really, really good people that’s really hard to play.”
Carter called this “the biggest game of the year” and said he anticipates a “rowdy” atmosphere at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
“Oxford is known for community and welcoming people,” Carter said. “We certainly want that. But we want people to be rowdy once they get to the stadium. We want them to create a game atmosphere that helps us, kind of that 12th man, if you will. And we’ve done that before.”
Kiffin said the Oxford fans’ animosity toward him is an advantage for his players.
“I told the players, you don’t have to worry about anything as far as attention on you all week,” Kiffin said. “There’s so much attention and hatred on me, you just get to go play.
“Really, the pressure is on (Ole Miss). We won seven games last year; they won 13. They return two Heisman candidates (QB Trinidad Chambliss, RB Kewan Lacy). How often does that happen in the same backfield? … So you guys just get to go play, the pressure’s not on you.”