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By Matthew Couden
Contributing Writer
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A huge showdown is brewing between No. 7 LSU and No. 8 Ole Miss on Saturday evening, as former Rebels coach Lane Kiffin makes his return to Oxford, Mississippi.
He'll face his former defensive coordinator, Pete Golding, who became the Ole Miss head coach after Kiffin's departure to become the LSU coach last year. Golding will now attempt to pull off the upset over the Tigers and spoil Kiffin's return.
During Golding's appearance on ESPN's "College GameDay" on Saturday morning, Reece Davis asked him how much focus he's placed on "signal stealing" ahead of this matchup.
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"I think you try to spend a lot of time every week. That's kind of where the college game is and has been for a while, to be honest with you. But this is a unique week based on obviously, the crossover between staffs and the signal standpoint. You don't always change every signal. Going into this season, we did," Golding said.
"You just don't always want them to have the chalk last or us to have the chalk last. You wanna leave it to 11 guys on the field to execute at a really high level," the Ole Miss coach said.
More news: Lane Kiffin-Pete Golding Text Exchange Revealed After Sam Leavitt Injury News
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It's understandable why "signal stealing" might be a thing. Golding officially began coaching Ole Miss during last year's College Football Playoff, leading them to two wins before falling to the Miami Hurricanes in a close semifinal game.
During those CFP games, Golding still had Kiffin's Ole Miss offensive coordinator, Charlie Weis Jr., who assisted with the offense, despite having joined Kiffin's LSU staff, where he will be on Saturday evening.
Since beginning his debut season as LSU head coach, Kiffin has been making headlines for a variety of reasons, including drama surrounding his attempts to add players to the Tigers' roster who signed NFL contracts and participated in training camps.
Since that controversy erupted, with the SEC getting involved and the looming threat of LSU getting kicked out of the conference, Kiffin and LSU backed off from adding those players to the roster.
Earlier this week, more alleged antics arrived when LSU quarterback Sam Leavitt's was listed as "doubtful" on the injury report. He was upgraded to "questionable" several days ago, but as of Friday night was deemed healthy enough from an unspecified injury to play in the game.
College coaching legend Nick Saban, now an analyst with ESPN's "College GameDay" and other programs, said he expected "100%" that Leavitt would play. Golding also revealed a text exchange with Kiffin telling him the LSU quarterback would be "out," and Golding shrugged it off, replying, "I bet he is."
It seems Golding is well-versed in Kiffin's tricks and tactics after working as his DC at Ole Miss for multiple seasons.
With the drama seemingly aside, it feels like the coaches and players can finally focus on the actual football game. LSU vs. Ole Miss arrives on Saturday, Sept. 20 at 7:30 p.m. ET.
More news: Nick Saban Convinced Sam Leavitt’s Injury is a Troll Job Ahead of LSU-Ole Miss
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