Ole Miss and LSU are both top-ten teams with College Football Playoff and national title aspirations, but there's also the added bonus of former Rebels coach Lane Kiffin making his return to Vaught Hemingway Stadium for the first time as the new head coach of the Tigers.Lane Kiffin of the LSU Tigers with Landry Kiffin before a game against the Clemson Tigers at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, La., on Sept.5, 2026.
(University Images via Getty Images)With all that in mind, there is a different game set to kick off around the same time in a different part of the SEC that will feature both extremely entertaining football and two fanbases with a ton at stake as well as plenty of hatred to go around.OLE MISS AND LSU WILL DELIVER CINEMA, BUT THE NEXT WEEK FOR EACH TEAM COULD BE THEIR MOST PIVOTAL TESTSIn case you didn't know, Auburn and Florida are old rivals.I'm talking very old rivals.Before their annual matchups and bitter back-and-forth contests with LSU and Tennessee, the Gators considered the Tigers one of their biggest rivals, and the feeling was mutual on the other side.These two programs have met 84 times dating all the way back to 1912, and from 1945 until 2002, they played each other every year.Auburn holds the all-time series lead at 43-39-2, but the Gators have dominated the rivalry since 1990 when Steve Spurrier arrived in Gainesville, boasting a 12-6 record in that timeframe.Former Florida Gators head coach Steve Spurrier.(USA TODAY Sports)That's not to say the Tigers haven't ruined plenty of Florida's best seasons in that stretch, and as a Gator fan coming of age during those years, I can speak to several personal experiences.THE CRAIG CARTON SHOW–UNFILTERED, UNAPOLOGETIC AND UNMISSABLE.
DOWNLOAD HIS DAILY PODCAST NOW!I was a bit too young to remember 1994, when the Tigers marched into Ben Hill Griffin Stadium as 17.5-point underdogs and handed the top-ranked Gators their first and only regular season loss that year.I do, however, remember the 2006 Aubur...