USC football: Five reasons to be excited about the Ole Miss home-and-home

USC football fans have reasons to be excited to face Ole Miss.

The internet was set ablaze Monday afternoon with news that the USC football program had finally scheduled a home-and-home series for the upcoming decade. It being Ole Miss certainly didn’t hurt matters.

The first-ever matchup between two polar opposite universities, fan bases and vibes pits the Trojans against the nation’s biggest baddest conference and creates a potential reunion with a familiar face.

Here are the five best reasons you should be excited for Troy to face the Rebels in 2025 and 2026:

Reason No. 1 for USC football to be excited to play Ole Miss: The Lane Kiffin angle

Maybe, just maybe, the newly-scheduled home-and-home between USC and Ole Miss could bring Lane Kiffin back to Los Angeles for a scrumptious grudge match.

Kiffin was hired by the Rebels in 2020 to replace Matt Luke, successfully landing his second SEC job after managing two 11-win seasons at Florida Atlantic in three years.

He may be more than six years removed from his tenure at USC, but you just know Kiffin wants another chance to get one over on the Trojans. He’s done it once before, piling on 52 points when he was the offensive coordinator for Alabama’s 2016 win over USC.

USC and Ole Miss will meet in 2025, but Kiffin’s involvement in that game comes down to one question: Can he win enough games for the Rebels to remain employed as their head coach six years from now?

His longest tenure as a head coach up to now was the three years he spent with FAU, so his track record of longevity doesn’t bode well for the possibility.

For now, there will be a lot of people crossing their fingers and praying for Kiffin to make it that long, if only for the drama.