ESPN’s College GameDay crew descended upon The Grove at Ole Miss on Saturday morning. Within minutes of the show’s start, the surrounding crowd erupted in boos and profane chants.
“F*ck Lane Kiffin!” Ole Miss faithful chanted.
Kiffin ditched Ole Miss to become the head football coach at LSU last November, with Saturday marking his return to Oxford.
The “F*ck Lane Kiffin” chants get started early on ‘College GameDay’ in Oxford ahead of LSU-Ole Miss. pic.twitter.com/6BlNn0qVwA
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 19, 2026
Amid the boos, Nick Saban clarified his role in Kiffin’s controversial decision to abandon his Ole Miss players before the College Football Playoff.
“I have coaches call me all the time and ask for advice… Everybody makes their own decision. I don’t tell anybody where to go… Just so everybody knows here, I am used to getting booed in the SEC.”
Nick Saban clarifies advice he gave Lane Kiffin on leaving Ole Miss for LSU pic.twitter.com/GXE8JwnrJ4
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 19, 2026
“Coach, you obviously have a massive piece in this entire story. Both of these coaches are guys that came through the Saban holy waters and got blessed into the head coaching positions that they are,” Pat McAfee said to Saban, referencing Kiffin and Ole Miss head coach Pete Golding. “But I think these people believe some things about you that might not simply be true.”
“I have coaches call me all the time and ask me for advice about what they should do,” Saban said. “Typically, what I do is ask them questions. Where do you think you can win? Where do you think you fit? And I also say, why can’t you win at where you are now?”
That last line temporarily got the crowd on Saban’s side. Boos morphed into cheers, as Saban continued, “You have a great quarterback. You have a great running back. You’re in the playoffs. You have a chance to win the national championship. So, why do you have to go someplace else?”
“But everybody makes their own decision,” Saban said. “I don’t tell anybody where to go. But just so everybody knows here, I am used to getting booed in the SEC!”
In January, Kiffin disclosed that he had called Saban to talk through his conundrum and claimed that Saban told him, “You’ll always regret if you don’t go to LSU. It’s the best job in America.” Kiffin added, “When he said that, that really made the decision for me.”
Lane Kiffin joins ‘College GameDay’ for a virtual interview, and the chants and boos get loud in Oxford. https://t.co/cMQa2ppDMk pic.twitter.com/1lAMTqZrcA
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 19, 2026
Ole Miss fans went with a variety of chants for Lane Kiffin. pic.twitter.com/DBnNhUwQ4P
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 19, 2026
Later on GameDay, ESPN premiered a clip from its upcoming six-part documentary series, Saban, showing the all-time great coach’s 2008 return to LSU after leaving for the Miami Dolphins and Alabama Crimson Tide.
On the heels of Lane Kiffin’s return to Oxford, we look back at another emotional coaching return in 2008 …
Nick Saban’s return to LSU, but this time, as head coach of Alabama 🐘 pic.twitter.com/TnBTy9ywpL
— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) September 19, 2026
Kiffin served as an offensive coordinator on Saban’s Alabama coaching staff from January 2014 to December 2016, when he left to become head coach at Florida Atlantic University.
The No. 7 LSU Tigers will take on the No. 8 Ole Miss Rebels on Saturday night, and Kiffin’s presence at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium is all but guaranteed to recreate scenes from that Saban clip.
About Megan Armstrong
Since first getting published as a student by the Kansas City Star in 2013, Megan Armstrong has gone wherever curiosity and stories have taken her, specializing in sports, media, music, and culture coverage. She also has an extensive background in interviewing and profiling public figures. Her work has appeared in Billboard, Boardroom, Bleacher Report, Esquire, GQ, GRAMMY.com, NYLON, Newsweek, Teen Vogue, The Hollywood Reporter, UPROXX, and elsewhere.