Column: LSU football’s matchup with Ole Miss will be talked about all season. Here’s why

LSU football junior quarterback Sam Leavitt (10) and LSU junior wide receiver Malik Elzy celebrates after scoring a touchdown on Saturday, Sept. 12. 2026, during LSU’s 45-14 win against LA Tech at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, La

It’s officially one of the biggest game weeks of the season for the LSU football team, with the first road game and SEC opponent the Ole Miss Rebels.

The anticipated early-season game, which is now a Top-10 matchup with LSU sitting at No. 7 and Ole Miss at No. 8, has been one of the most talked about games this offseason. Not only will this Saturday’s game be the most-watched game across the conference, but the nation as well.

With that many eyes watching the road game for the Tigers, it will be the ultimate test of the team’s true ability to stand up to top-ranked teams, following two weeks of being the favored winner of easy wins.

The attention surrounding the weekend doesn’t just come from Lane Kiffin’s awaited return to his former program in Oxford. The attention also comes from walking into the daunting environment that will be the ultimate advantage for the Rebels.

It’s also about the talent that lies on the two SEC teams. Ole Miss brings a Top-5 offense in the nation, while LSU has the Top-2 defensive unit in the nation.

Kiffin and, consequently, the Rebels are coming off an impressive 2025 season, breaking records as the first team in program history to have a playoff run.

But as we all now know, Kiffin made an early exit during the historic postseason run to join the Tigers, but even without the play-caller and the rest of the coaching staff that broke records last year, Ole Miss is still making itself known in the rankings.

This raises the stakes for the conference rivalry, which will answer the question of whether Kiffin’s dramatic switch was worth it.

Beyond the plays called and end-of-game stats, that will be the biggest takeaway from the game, something both fans and sports critics will be talking about the rest of the season.

It is a very exciting, high-stakes game, but the conversation about Ole Miss vs. LSU won’t end after the final whistle. The conversation won’t end when the Tigers return to Baton Rouge, or even when the regular season is over and the postseason is just around the corner.

For two programs that have been closely ranked all season so far, there could only be room for one of them come the time to decide who will make a playoff run.

This is when the committee turns to when the two programs played each other, seeing who won and why. From here, the College Football Playoff Selection Committee makes the decision.

Both programs are looking to get selected by the College Football Playoff committee, play into January, and have their name be known for a top-notch team in the league.

But between Ole Miss and LSU, the reasons are the same. The Rebels are trying to maintain success without Kiffin, while LSU is trying to prove itself as a brand new competitor across the conference with Kiffin and his staff.

As Saturday’s saga will answer the question about Kiffin’s offseason success, it won’t end the conversations about his switch and takeover in Baton Rouge. It will only fuel the headlines.

Kiffin traveled to the Bayou State with a large portion of the coaching staff he worked with at Ole Miss, as well as bringing four star players to add to the Tigers’ roster.

But then, he added more than 40 new faces to the roster, creating a puzzle piece of talent that he only had a couple of months to put together.

Completely renovating the program and then became a top-ranked team in both the conference and the nation after an impressive season debut, proving itself in Tiger Stadium.

Now the stage is set for the road. While it may be familiar to some of the players and coaching staff, it will never look like it did before. It will become one of the most hostile environments a team will play in this season.

But if the Tigers can come out of the game victorious, it doesn’t just prove that Kiffin’s move was worth it. It proves that Kiffin and his staff took on a massive challenge this offseason — and nailed it.

If LSU gets engulfed by the sea of red at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, that could prove the exact opposite: that while Kiffin has made historical moves, they didn’t pay off in the ways everyone was expecting.

This is a conversation that will be talked about on Selection Sunday in December, as well as a fueling point for each team heading into the rest of the conference schedule.

Saturday isn’t just about who walks with a 2-1 record. It’s about who can prove themselves for the rest of the season after a matchup that looks completely different than a season ago.

I joined the Reveille to be able to write about LSU sports and be a part of student media. The sports culture at LSU is a large part of why I came here from out of state!

I hope to work for a multimedia sports entertainment out of college as a sports writer.