LSU leads the all-time series against Ole Miss, but the number depends on who is counting. Saturday is the 115th meeting in a rivalry that began in 1894, and it is the first time since 1962 that both teams enter ranked inside the AP top 10.
| The series | Detail |
|---|---|
| All-time record | LSU leads 66-44-4 by school records, or 64-43-4 once vacated wins are removed. LSU vacated two, Ole Miss one |
| In Oxford | Dead even at 11-11-1 |
| First meeting | December 3, 1894. Ole Miss won 26-6 in Baton Rouge |
| Meetings Saturday | The 115th |
| Magnolia Bowl | The name and trophy date to a 2008 agreement between the two student governments. LSU leads since then, reported as either 11-7 or 11-6 depending on the outlet |
| Home field | Since 2012 the home team has won 12 of the last 14 |
| Ole Miss at home | Has not lost at Vaught-Hemingway in 13 games, against all opponents, the third longest active home streak in the FBS. That streak is not against LSU specifically |
| Both ranked | Saturday is the 13th such meeting. LSU leads those 8-5 |
| Largest margin | LSU 52-3 in 2011, the 100th meeting |
| Longest streak | LSU won eight straight from 1928 to 1937 |
| Year | The game |
|---|---|
| 1959 | Cannon’s Halloween Run. No. 1 LSU trailed No. 3 Ole Miss 3-0 late when Billy Cannon returned a punt 89 yards. LSU then stopped the Rebels at its own one yard line. Ole Miss won the Sugar Bowl rematch 21-0 |
| 1971 | Ole Miss won 24-22 in Jackson, the last major college game between two all-white squads. Both programs fielded their first Black varsity players the following season |
| 2009 | The four seconds game. Down two with nine seconds left, LSU completed a 40-yard pass to the Ole Miss six, then ran out of clock trying to spike it. Ole Miss won 25-23 |
| 2011 | The 100th meeting and the most lopsided. Top ranked LSU won 52-3 in Oxford |
| 2025 | Ole Miss won 24-19, the most recent meeting |
Why the Record Depends on Who You Ask
You will see two different numbers for this series and both are defensible. School records and most outlets covering this week have LSU ahead 66-44-4. Wikipedia and Winsipedia list 64-43-4, because they remove vacated wins: two for LSU and one for Ole Miss. The games were played, the results were on the field, and the NCAA later struck them from the official record.
The Magnolia Bowl era record has the same problem on a smaller scale, reported as LSU 11-7 by one Louisiana outlet and 11-6 by a Mississippi one this week. Where sources disagree we have shown both rather than picking the one that reads better.
Why Saturday Is Different
Lane Kiffin returns to Vaught-Hemingway as the opposing head coach for the first time, after six seasons at Ole Miss and a departure for LSU before last season’s playoff. He went 3-3 in this rivalry while coaching the Rebels. Pete Golding, his former defensive coordinator, now runs Ole Miss, and Trinidad Chambliss, his former quarterback, is still there.
Three former Rebels are on the LSU roster, including edge rusher Princewill Umanmielen, who led Ole Miss in sacks last season and already has five for the Tigers this year, plus receiver Winston Watkins and linebacker TJ Dottery.
The two numbers that matter most cut against each other. LSU leads the overall series comfortably, but Oxford is a coin flip at 11-11-1, and the home team has won 12 of the last 14 meetings since 2012.
The small sample in Oxford is worth explaining, because 23 games out of 114 looks odd for a rivalry this old. For decades Ole Miss hosted its biggest games in Jackson rather than on campus, and LSU did not play at Vaught-Hemingway at all between 1960 and 1989. Most of the series was contested in Baton Rouge or at neutral sites, which is why the campus record is both short and even.
College GameDay is on site this week. The full preview is on our LSU vs. Ole Miss page, and live updates are on the score page.
The Bottom Line
LSU leads 66-44-4 all time, or 64-43-4 with vacated wins removed, across 114 meetings since 1894. In Oxford the series is level at 11-11-1, and Saturday is the first top 10 meeting since 1962.