Lane Kiffin downplays Ole Miss return: "This is about the players"

Head coach Lane Kiffin will head back to Oxford for the first time since leaving Ole Miss to take the LSU job. The Rebels and Tigers face off in a primetime clash on Saturday to open SEC play. Much has been made about Kiffin facing his former team, but he turned the attention to the players.

"This is about the players being prepared really well and playing really well," Kiffin said. "Pete [Goulding]'s not going to tackle anybody. I'm not going to throw any touchdowns. I used to say the same thing when we played Coach [Nick] Saban and he joked that he wouldn't do very well in coverage at his age."

Kiffin is no stranger to playing his former teams. He did so against Tennessee, where he held the head coach role, several times and will do so with the Tigers when they travel to Oxford and Knoxville in 2026. They face a top-10 matchup against the No. 8 Rebels when they arrive.

Kiffin pointed out the tall task LSU faces. He said quarterback Trinidad Chambliss, running back Kewan Lacy and kicker Lucas Carneiro were the best at their positions at the end of College Football Playoffs. All three return as part of a Rebels team that's impressed so far in 2026.

"It'll be about how well did we practice, how well did we prepare, how well do we play on game day going into a place that has had a lot of success there?" Kiffin said. "That's going to put you in a position to win a lot of games, so we're going to have to prepare really well and play really well in all areas."

This article originally appeared on LSU Wire: Lane Kiffin downplays Ole Miss return: "This is about the players"