Ole Miss-LSU: A rivalry where anything can happen

A sellout crowd is expected inside Vaught-Hemingway Stadium when Ole Miss and LSU kickoff in the 112th edition of this Deep South rivalry.

If you aren’t already aware, either team could win in a very close game or either one could blow the other one out. A Heisman campaign may be launched and given rocket fuel on a national primetime stage. Someone may stumble on a lineman’s foot and cause an entire season’s demise. The damn Shadowman from Princess and the Frog may make an appearance and drag someone to the other side.

It’s the damn Magnolia Bowl. Ole Miss and LSU. Anything is possible.

This isn’t a lopsided rivalry by all accounts. Through the many contests, LSU typically wins six out of every ten tries, but in the last decade, the Tigers are 7-3 with the three losses coming in no other place but Oxford, Miss. In fact, the Rebels are 4-3 at home against LSU since 2009.

The last time these two squads played in VHS it was Manning Day and Eli was getting his No. 10 immortalized forever at Ole Miss. It had all the trappings of a game that could totally turn out wrong for the Rebels, but instead things went as planned and ended in an Ole Miss win.

Guess what? Eli Manning is back again today with his 2003 compatriots who won the Cotton Bowl twenty years ago. Oh, yeah, and by the way, those Rebels fell 17-14 to LSU in the presumptive SEC Western Division title game that same season. Retired Eli may have some kind of magic curse on the Tigers if Ole Miss does this again.

It’s clear which team needs the win more right now, and that sits squarely on the Rebels sideline. After a loss to Alabama, the only thing that can right the ship is to follow it up with an upset of LSU who has yet to post an SEC loss. If Ole Miss wants to get back into the SEC West race, it has to win today.

LSU, meanwhile, was knocked down a few pegs in its first week of the season only to pound its next two opponents and escape Arkansas last Saturday. How good are the Tigers? I don’t think anyone really knows just yet, and this is a big game for LSU to prove itself on the road in the SEC.

So, yeah, no big deal just a top 25 game with huge implications and it’s not even October yet. Crack open a cold one, it’s going to be one helluva day.