Ole Miss Prepares for LSU Game in Death Valley

By Adam Brown
Sports Editor
adam.brown@hottytoddy.com

Ole Miss returns to the gridiron this Saturday as they travel to Baton Rouge to take on the LSU Tigers as they close out their regular season schedule.

The Rebels have not played since the Egg Bowl against Mississippi State due to positive COVID-19 cases within the program, as well as within the Texas A&M program.

Head Coach Lane Kiffin met with the media on Monday to discuss the upcoming game during his weekly press conference.

“It is good to be back at work with the players being able to practice,” Kiffin said. “Obviously, we wanted to keep playing the A&M game. We had the same issues they had earlier when they canceled.”

Ole Miss heads into Death Valley with a 4-4 mark in the 2020 All-SEC schedule, hoping to close out the schedule with a win before heading to a bowl game.

“A chance to finish it out with a win in an All-SEC game… would be pretty exciting in our first year to do,” Kiffin said. “Especially knowing that we let a couple of them slip away that we should have won.”

LSU is coming off of a 37-34 victory over No. 6 Florida last weekend.

“A big challenge, an extremely talented team as always,” Kiffin said. “Even though it won’t be full, you are still going into Baton Rogue, which is not an easy place to play, ever. They are coming off a great win, and where I don’t think many people gave them a chance. A huge challenge for us.”

Ole Miss returned to practice to start preparing for the Tigers on Friday and Saturday.

“I don’t think it is ideal, but we definitely have fresh legs. That part is good,” Kiffin said. “It will take a little bit of time getting back into it. We don’t have everybody yet because of those COVID guys. They are trickling back in… They should be back as long as they pass their final test once they come out.”

LSU’s win over the Gators changed the season for a team that had been struggling.

“It changed everything,” Kiffin said. “You could see post-game their energy. They played extremely hard. The game could have gone a different way 100 times. I think that reenergized them. It would be a lot harder losing that game. I am sure that game gave them a bunch of energy wanting to finish strong.”

Ole Miss is looking at going to a bowl game for the first time in five years since the 48-20 win over No. 16 Oklahoma State in the Sugar Bowl.

“We are excited about that,” Kiffin said. “It helps for the development of all your players.”

Ole Miss and LSU will kickoff at 2:30 p.m. on the SEC Network.