OXFORD — The excitement comes early in the 2026 Ole Miss football schedule.
Ole Miss will host LSU on Sept. 19 at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. It is a Week 3 game, and the first SEC game for both teams.
LSU coach Lane Kiffin will be facing Ole Miss for the first time since he left the Rebels on Nov. 30. The departure did not happen on friendly terms. Kiffin was booed at the airport in Oxford as he was leaving.
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Expect the atmosphere to be tense. Kiffin was at Ole Miss from 2020-25, and he led the Rebels to four seasons with at least 10 wins. Leaving before Ole Miss was set to make its first College Football Playoff appearance for the rival Tigers only increased the animosity of the Ole Miss fan base.
The game will also likely be a huge in the SEC standings. Ole Miss is coming off a run to the CFP semifinals and is expected to return star quarterback Trinidad Chambliss.
LSU pulled in the top-ranked transfer portal class, including former Ole Miss edge rusher Princewill Umanmielen, linebacker TJ Dottery and receiver Winston Watkins.
Kiffin has experience in tense games. After he left Tennessee in 2010 after being the head coach of the Vols, he returned to Knoxville as an offensive coordinator at Alabama and as Ole Miss’s coach.
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Ole Miss football 2026 schedule
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Week 1, Sept. 5 or Sept. 6: Ole Miss vs. Louisville (Nashville)
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Week 2, Sept. 12: Ole Miss vs. Charlotte
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Week 3, Sept. 19: Ole Miss vs. LSU
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Week 4, Sept. 26: Ole Miss at Florida
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Week 5, Oct. 3: Open date
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Week 6, Oct. 10: Ole Miss at Vanderbilt
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Week 7, Oct. 17: Ole Miss vs. Missouri
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Week 8, Oct. 24: Ole Miss at Texas
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Week 9, Oct. 31: Ole Miss vs. Auburn
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Week 10, Nov. 7: Ole Miss vs. Georgia
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Week 11, Nov. 14: Ole Miss at Oklahoma
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Week 12, Nov. 21: Ole Miss vs. Wofford
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Week 13, Nov. 28: Ole Miss vs. Mississippi State
Sam Hutchens covers Ole Miss for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at Shutchens@gannett.com or reach him on X at @Sam_Hutchens_
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Do Lane Kiffin, LSU play Ole Miss football on 2026 schedule?
