What to Know About the Security Measures Surrounding Ole Miss, LSU

Ole Miss and LSU are just days away from squaring off at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.

Sep 6, 2026; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Mississippi Rebels head coach Pete Golding waits to lead his team onto the field prior to a game against the Louisville Cardinals at Nissan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

OXFORD, Miss. – Lane Kiffin’s first trip back to Oxford, since becoming LSU’s head coach, headlines what’s going to be an emotionally charged weekend between two fanbases. 

Part of the other storylines surrounding the looming top-10 matchup between No. 8 Ole Miss and No. 7 LSU at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium involves the town’s security measures for the weekend. 

The Oxford Police Department will have familiar reinforcements with mounted patrol units from New Olreans (La.) and Mobile (Ala.), which has, of course, been the plan for weeks.        

“This has been in the works for weeks,” Oxford Police Department Public Information Officer Breck Jones told Ole Miss On SI. “They’ve been here before and our mounted patrol has gone down to Mobile and New Orleans. We have a good relationship with the mounted patrol units in those two departments. Every once in a while during a big game weekend, I can’t remember when the last one was, they’ll send some of their folks here.”

“You think back last year, some of our busiest weekends were probably LSU and Florida. The year before that we had Oklahoma and Georgia that year, and those were really busy weekends. We’re anticipating the crowd to be larger than that.”

What Changes? 

Sep 12, 2026; Oxford, Mississippi, USA; Mississippi Rebels Head Coach Pete Golding embraces with Charlotte 49ers head coach Tim Albin after the game at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Not much.   

On regular football game weekends Oxford PD can deploy up to six horses at a time, Jones said. With the additional mounted patrol units coming for this game in particular, there will be 13 more, bringing the town total to 19 horses for the anticipated weekend. 

With a staff of nearly 150 officers, it will be ‘all hands on deck’ with 12-hour rotations (6 a.m. - 6 p.m.) between shifts throughout the week. 

Still, the department isn’t really ‘doing anything beyond’ what they already do nearly every game weekend. 

“We’ll have our detectives, our SROs and all the other specialized units we'll typically get game day and game weekend assignments. We’ll have extra officers on the Square that are helping our downtown officers on the Square,” Jones explained. “We’ll have people assigned to traffic posts and things like that on Saturday. It’s a big undertaking, it’s definitely all hands on deck whenever it’s a game weekend in Oxford. But it’s typical. We’re not doing anything beyond what we already do every game weekend.”

Framing the security measures in place for the upcoming weekend as ‘heightened’ would be considered a bit of a stretch to Oxford PD. 

“I feel like maybe that’s too far. I don’t even know what they would consider heightened. Our goal is for everyone to be safe whenever they come to Oxford. We want everyone to come out and have a good time and get home safely. Small crowd, big crowd – to us everyday is day one. We want to work everything. We’re wanting to make sure that we’re crossing our t’s and dot our i’s and focus on the small details, making sure we can get everyone home safely.”

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