Pete Golding Puts Top-10 Matchup Between Ole Miss and LSU into Perspective

The game that’s been circled on just about every sports media outlet’s calendar since Nov. 30 is just days away from happening at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford.

Ole Miss-LSU won’t just be a matchup of emotion tied to Lane Kiffin’s departure this weekend, it will also present an early opportunity to strengthen position in regards to the College Football Playoffs come winter.

At, nearly, the center of it all, Pete Golding isn’t losing sight of what the top-10 matchup really means when it comes to the magnitude of Saturday’s game.

“I think both teams, both schools put themselves in great position to have a top 10 matchup to open up SEC play for us at home with College Gameday. There’s so much on the line just from what the game means as far as from conference play and being a top-10 matchup,” Golding explained Monday. “Then obviously the former players and all the former coaches and the relationships that you’ve had. I think that’s not unique to one game anymore…Now with the portal and coaches going different places every year, there’s always relationships that are there. Obviously this one being unique — their head ball coach that recruited a lot of these guys and all that is on the opposing side, but they know it’s a top-10 matchup.”

The Rebels’ first-year head coach brought it back down to earth by comparing it to what would be a looming homecoming at the high school level.

“Regardless of who we play, you’re playing a top-10 team in this league. If you don’t prepare really well and practice really well and play your best game, you’re probably not going to win the game regardless who it is. I think we’ve got a mature enough group to understand that it’s going to be a hard football game, they’re a really good football team,” Golding said. “But we got good players too. We’re going to have to prepare the right way this week and get locked in and focused. A lot going on. But to me, it’s like high school homecoming for these dudes. If you focus on the wrong shit, that homecoming dance ain’t very fun after you get your butt beat on a Friday night. We gotta make sure that we’re doing everything right throughout the week to get the right outcome that we want.”

Clear Focus

Sep 27, 2025; Oxford, Mississippi, USA; Mississippi Rebels running back Kewan Lacy (5) runs the ball as LSU Tigers safety A.J. Haulcy (13) attempts to make the tackle during the fourth quarter at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Golding is confident his seasoned group of players and coaches will be prepared to block out the external distractions.

“I think you’re preaching that same message week in and week out. But for some of those guys that overlook a Louisville because they’re not in the conference or overlook a Charlotte because they’re not a Power 4 team — there’s no reason to overlook anything this week. You’re playing LSU, which there’s already a trophy for…I think they’re excited for the opportunity to be on a national stage versus a really good football team, but you want to make sure you’re preparing yourself the right way to put a good product on the field,” Golding added. “I think they’ll be locked in. Obviously we got to do a good job as coaches to give them really good plans and put them in good positions to be able to have success. But if they can’t get up for this one, I don’t know why they play the game.”

Golding and most of LSU’s offensive staff are beyond familiar with one another. Golding spent three full offseasons and seasons with Kiffin’s staff. There are, of course, advantages to that aspect for both sides heading into Week 3.

Overthinking can be easy to do in this unique situation of preparation.

“To me I think it goes both (ways). Obviously there’s a lot that you know about them on both sides. Them about us, us about them. There’s a very big database of going against somebody for three and a half years. I think it’s really easy to overthink things as well and try to have a plan for everything they’ve ever done under the sun, which is really tough within one week for your players,” Golding added. “Then I think you can out-think yourself sometimes…I think sometimes you can make it a lot harder than it should be when you know somebody really well, but we know it’s going to be really challenging. Charlie does a really good job, obviously Lane does a really good job on gameday as well. I think it’s good that there’s familiarity, but also sometimes for coaches, we overthink it a little bit.”

Though Ole Miss will have two different tapes to study from the beginning stages of the Kiffin era at LSU, Golding knows the Rebels will not have seen the full menu of what the Tigers can do offensively.

Still, Ole Miss is familiar with some tendencies.

“There are a lot of new pieces to it, so in year one of that transition I think that you haven’t seen the whole menu,” Golding said. “They do a really good job, and always have, of setting things up as far as sequencing plays and giving you certain pictures in certain games that come back and work compliments off of it. You try to always be a step ahead, but you can see (them) still playing fast. I think both games you don’t have the same sample size you normally would in a two-game just based on the flow of the game and them getting up on Clemson early. Then obviously with LA Tech the first half turnovers, it wasn’t a lack of moving the football…You don’t have a normal sample size of two games with a new offense of four quarters, so there’s really only about two halves. You can kind of see what are they setting for us and looking at their pieces.”

During what’s expected to be a circus-like atmosphere in Oxford, Golding would still like to see what he always has from Ole Miss fans despite the heightened emotions.

"To me, what this place has always been about and why so many people love coming here and respect this place, is because of the people that are here," Golding said following Monday’s operations. "And how they make them feel when they come here. That's always been something for me. When you come here and meet Ole Miss alumni and all that, they are so respectful."

"Let's not lose that (reputation) over a game, over a person, over anyone else like that. There's nothing wrong with being competitive and being in the moment and being really loud and being an unbelievable fan...but at the end of the day don't lose what we have created and what they have created for so long, which is a really unique place with really good people that's really hard to play. There's a competitive part of everybody that obviously I hope creates a really, really good environment like they always have for a top-10 matchup. For it to be really hard to play offense in that stadium — and be there early and be loud — but I think at the end of it there's still a respect piece."

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