OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi will assemble the state’s largest law enforcement presence ever for a college football game this weekend, highlighting the heightened security in place around the stadium and off campus for the much-anticipated game Saturday night against LSU and former Rebels coach Lane Kiffin.
Ole Miss students were warned this week that nobody wearing an opposing team’s apparel will be allowed to enter the student section at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium and that anyone spotted by security in opponent gear or colors during the game will be removed.
This unusually strict protocol was enacted with tensions between the Southeastern Conference rivals as high as ever, following Kiffin’s departure for LSU late last year at the end of the regular season, just before Ole Miss entered the College Football Playoff. The Tigers are ranked seventh and the Rebels are eighth in the latest Associated Press poll.
Sean Tindell, commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, announced earlier this week that between 65 and 70 troopers and officers from the highway patrol and commercial transportation enforcement division would be in Oxford to “maintain a highly visible and proactive presence through the conclusion of the weekend.” The operation also will include a helicopter and a mobile command center to coordinate surveillance of the scene, not for a specific threat but rather to be proactive.
Louisiana State Police have sent 15 officers to work with Mississippi law enforcement, Tindell said, to help ensure safe and efficient transportation and operations for LSU’s traveling party.
“Our priority is making sure everyone can enjoy the game and surrounding events safely,” Tindell said. “This enhanced presence is about being prepared, staying proactive and working together.”
The operation also includes officers with the university and the city. Oxford, which has a non-student population of about 27,000, has six horses for officers on mounted patrol and will increase that on Saturday to at least 10, with officers from Mobile, Alabama, coming to help, Oxford police spokesman Breck Jones said.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, in an interview this week with ESPN, raised the question of sending the National Guard with the traveling party to protect Kiffin and his players.
“But I’m hoping that we can go there and play in complete Southern hospitality and have a great, great game,” Landry told ESPN.
When Ole Miss played at Tennessee in 2021, bringing Kiffin back to another one of his previous coaching stops, play was halted for about 20 minutes after Volunteers fans upset about a fourth-down spot of the ball in the closing minutes of a close game pelted the field with objects. Kiffin said he was hit by golf balls and liquor bottles.
“As an administrator, that’s your worst nightmare,” Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter said this week in an interview with CBS Sports, referencing that game. “It gives your university an image that isn’t who you are. That’s a concern for this weekend, too.”
Ole Miss coach Pete Golding echoed the calls for restraint from Rebels fans.
“About Oxford, the first thing you talk about is the people there. Let’s not lose that over a game, over a person or anything else like that,” Golding said this week at his regular news conference. “There’s nothing wrong with being competitive, being in the moment, being really loud and being an unbelievable fan. At the end of the day, don’t lose what we’ve created.”
