Lane Kiffin is coming back to Oxford — and he's not wearing red and blue this time.
Kiffin, who coached Ole Miss from 2020 through 2024, returns to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on Saturday as LSU's head coach, a reunion that instantly became the headline matchup of college football's Week 3. The Rebels host the Tigers in what oddsmakers expect to be one of the most-watched games of the early season.
The storyline is unusual even by SEC standards: a coach facing the program he rebuilt, in a stadium where he was once the face of the sidelines. Kiffin's Ole Miss teams went to bowl games in each of his final seasons, and the Rebels' fan base has spent the offseason debating how to greet him.
Beyond Oxford, Week 3 offers a slate that analysts say could shape early playoff conversations. Louisville's line against SMU has drawn attention from bettors, with at least one major outlet asking whether the Cardinals should be a bigger favorite than the market currently shows. Michigan State and South Carolina both appeared in computer-model picks published this week.
CBS Sports, The New York Times, Bleacher Report, and Card Chronicle all released full Week 3 predictions, and the consensus is that the weekend's outcomes will start separating contenders from pretenders in several conferences.
Odds are still moving. Kickoff times, injury reports, and weather could shift lines further before Saturday.
What remains unclear is how the Ole Miss crowd will respond when Kiffin steps onto the field — and whether the Tigers can leave Oxford with a win that would reshape their season.