USC football schedules home-and-home with Ole Miss

USC football will play Ole Miss in a home-and-home series in 2025 and 2026.

The home-and-home has returned to USC football.

The Trojans announced on Monday a new series with the Ole Miss Rebels in 2025 and 2026, beginning at the Coliseum and ending at Vaught–Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Mississippi.

Short of meeting in a bowl game before 2025, that game in Los Angeles will be the first-ever matchup for the two schools.

What scheduling Ole Miss means for USC football…

The series signals a change in tune from USC, which had previously indicated home-and-homes would be unlikely. The Trojans intended to guarantee seven home games each season at the cost of a less ambitious out of conference slate.

The arrival of new athletic director Mike Bohn reversed the programs’ position on scheduling FCS teams, canceling the upcoming fixture with UC Davis. This would seem to be the latest scheduling adjustment to take effect.

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The Trojans now have completed the schedule for 2026 with Fresno State, Ole Miss and Notre Dame on the docket. The 2025 schedule is still awaiting a third out of conference opponent, along with the 2024 slate.

It may be a bit premature to say it, but the game could create a fascinating homecoming situation for Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin, should he hold onto the Rebels job for the next five seasons.

Kiffin, who was a top-tier offensive coordinator under Pete Carroll, was USC’s head coach from 2010 through his unceremonious firing after five games in 2013. Since then he has slowly resurrected his coaching career, taking an offensive coordinator role at Alabama, parlaying that into a head coaching opportunity at Florida Atlantic before getting another chance in the SEC at Ole Miss.

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Ensuring a USC vs. Kiffin matchup will be tricky. The visor-wearing head coach will have to be good enough to stay employed but no so good that he climbs into another more prestigious program.

It’s fun to dream either way.