{"id":641005,"date":"2026-05-13T17:38:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T17:38:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/641005\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T17:38:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T17:38:07","slug":"the-drama-is-already-building-for-lane-kiffins-return-to-ole-miss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/641005\/","title":{"rendered":"The drama is already building for Lane Kiffin’s return to Ole Miss"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are still 129 days until Lane Kiffin returns to Ole Miss as LSU\u2019s head coach, but the college football world is already buzzing about it. On Wednesday, ESPN unveiled<\/a> a handful of kickoff times at Disney\u2019s Upfront presentation. To no one\u2019s surprise, LSU at Ole Miss in Week Three will kick off in primetime, at 7:30 p.m. ET\/6:30 p.m. CT on ABC. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s always hard to get a hotel room in Oxford during football season. For the weekend of September 19? The cheapest rooms are already in the thousands of dollars, four months ahead of time. AirBnBs are even higher. The kickoff time was just one piece of news about the game this week, which is shaping up to be the most anticipated of the college football season.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Vanity Fair\u2019s feature<\/a> on Lane Kiffin was released, which included some eye-opening quotes from Kiffin about his former school, specifically its reputation with black families on the recruiting trail. <\/p>\n

\u201c[They would say], \u2018Hey, Coach, we really like you. But my grandparents aren\u2019t letting me move to Oxford, Mississippi,’\u201d Kiffin said. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t come up when you say Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Parents were sitting here this weekend saying the campus\u2019 diversity feels so great: \u2018It feels like there\u2019s no segregation. And we want that for our kid because that\u2019s the real world.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Kiffin later backtracked, telling On3\u2019s Wilson Alexander<\/a> that his comments were not intended as a shot at Ole Miss, where he spent six years of his career. On Tuesday, Steve Sarkisian found a way to put down the Rebels while talking about Texas\u2019 academic reputation compared to its rivals in an interview with USA Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt Texas, we will only take 50% of a player\u2019s academic credit hours,\u201d Sarkisian told USA Today. \u201cYou may be a semester from graduating, but you\u2019re going all the way back to 50% if you play here and want a degree. But at Ole Miss, they can take you. All you have to do is take basket weaving, and you can get an Ole Miss degree.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ouch. Those comments, and Kiffins, have gone viral, with Jon Sumrall even chiming in. Florida\u2019s new coach was an assistant at Ole Miss during the 2018 season. He shared On3\u2019s tweet about Sarkisian\u2019s comments with the caption, \u201cGrateful to coach at a top 10 public university that also offers advanced basket weaving!\u201d<\/p>\n

In two weeks, the league\u2019s coaches, athletic directors, and presidents will convene at the SEC\u2019s annual spring meetings at the Hilton Sandestin Beach Golf Resort & Spa in Miramar Beach, Florida. With all these shots flying back and forth and the litany of issues facing the sport, those meetings will be far from boring. The same goes for SEC Media Days, which take place July 20-23 in Tampa, Florida. <\/p>\n

By the time September 19 rolls around, the anticipation for Kiffin\u2019s return to Oxford will be at a fever pitch. The Oxford Police Department can\u2019t wait, sharing a sarcastic GIF when the late kickoff time was revealed. <\/p>\n

A notable Week 2 kickoff time<\/p>\n

ESPN also announced that Ohio State at Texas will kick off at 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC on September 12. Why does that matter for Kentucky? The Cats host Alabama that day, the only SEC vs. SEC matchup in Week 2. ESPN probably won\u2019t want to put the Crimson Tide up against the marquee game of the night. Alabama plays at noon in Week 1. That increases the chances that Alabama vs. Kentucky will be the 3:30 p.m. ET game on ABC. <\/p>\n

We should get TV windows (early, afternoon, night, flex) for all of the SEC games next month. Until then, if you\u2019re making plans for the Alabama game, you\u2019re probably safe to pencil it in at 3:30 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n

SEC Week 2 Matchups<\/p>\n

DateMatchup9\/12\/2026Arkansas at Utah9\/12\/2026Southern Miss at Auburn9\/12\/2026Campbell at Florida9\/12\/2026Western Kentucky at Georgia9\/12\/2026Alabama at Kentucky9\/12\/2026Louisiana Tech at LSU9\/12\/2026Charlotte at Ole Miss9\/12\/2026Mississippi State at Minnesota9\/12\/2026Missouri at Kansas9\/12\/2026Oklahoma at Michigan9\/12\/2026Towson at South Carolina9\/12\/2026Tennessee at Georgia Tech9\/12\/2026Ohio State at Texas9\/12\/2026Arizona State at Texas A&M9\/12\/2026Delaware at Vanderbilt<\/p>\n

Lock in for a pivotal Kentucky Football offseason with KSR Plus! We\u2019re giving you behind-the-scenes intel you won\u2019t find anywhere else. Join the most vibrant online community in the BBN for the exciting start of the Will Stein Era.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There are still 129 days until Lane Kiffin returns to Ole Miss as LSU\u2019s head coach, but the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":641006,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,398,396,397,99],"class_list":["post-641005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-football","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ncaafootball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=641005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641005\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/641006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}