Pete Golding Issues Major Challenge for Ole Miss Rebels' Fanbase

It’s no secret Saturday will be a big day in Oxford, Mississippi. ESPN’s College Gameday will be in town; other celebrities are likely to be as well, and at the end of it all, there will be the primetime matchup between Ole Miss and LSU.

It will be a meeting of two long-time SEC foes, who aren’t historically considered hated rivals. Yet, after Lane Kiffin left Ole Miss right before its College Football Playoff run, the vitriol and drama make it feel like a matchup between two hated rivals.

As head coach Pete Golding and co. kick off game-week preparations, he is already calling on Rebel fans to bring their A game as well. However, there is a caveat to what he wants to see from his fans.

“We want to create a really, really good environment, like they always have for our top 10 matchup, for it to be really hard to play offense in that stadium and be there early and be loud,” Golding said. But I think at the end of it, there's still a respect piece, and this place has always been known to have really, really good people, and that's the one thing to me about Oxford.”

The competitive spirit and desire to win is exactly what Golding wants from not only his team but fanbase as well. Yet, as Rebel fans saw when their then-head coach, Kiffin, returned to Tennessee for the first time since he left the Volunteers in 2009, the fanbase left no room for respect.

The 2021 matchup between the Rebels and Volunteers went into the history books as a 31-26 win on the road in Neyland. Yet, the most memorable moment came from the Tennessee fans throwing mustard and ketchup bottles onto the field over a controversial fourth-down decision following a review.

Yet, while Golding is asking the fanbase to do their part, he wants to make sure his team stays focused on nothing but the task at hand.

“We're going to prepare the right way this week, and get locked in and get focus. A lot going on,” Golding said. “You got Ella Langley, you got game day, you got so much other stuff. But to me, it's like high school homecoming for these dudes. Like if you focus on the wrong shit, right? That homecoming dance ain't very fun after you get your butt beat on a Friday night.”

The difference, though, is that there obviously won’t be a dance win or loss for Ole Miss. If the Rebels win, they will certainly celebrate, but only for so long before they have to turn the page and head on the road to face Florida the very next week.

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