‘GameDay’ headed to Ole Miss for Kiffin’s return to Oxford

The LSU Tigers and new coach Lane Kiffin are certainly getting attention.

“College GameDay” has released its first three campuses of the season, and two of those marquee games involve Kiffin.

The first is Sept. 5, when the Tigers will host in Death Valley the other Tigers who play in Death Valley, Clemson.

Two weeks later, Kiffin makes his much-anticipated return to Oxford, Mississippi, when LSU takes on Ole Miss, and “GameDay” will be there.

In between, “GameDay,” which is celebrating its 40th year, will be in Austin, Texas, meaning that “for the first time since 2002, ‘College GameDay’s’ first three shows will originate from the campuses of three different preseason AP Top 15 teams: LSU (11th), Texas (5th) and Ole Miss (9th),” ESPN notes.

As indicated by that preseason ranking, the Bayou Bengals have high expectations in Kiffin’s first season.

Returning stars like linebacker Whit Weeks and new additions like quarterback Sam Leavitt, the former Arizona State Sun Devil, have many in the college football world thinking LSU is a likely College Football Playoff team.

After all, their roster is believed to be the most expensive in the sport, with it likely being over $40 million and, as some insiders suggest, possibly even over $50 million, report Chris Hummer and John Talty of CBS Sports.

“The arrival of new head coach Lane Kiffin, the self-proclaimed Portal King, spurred on a spending spree as Kiffin remade the roster with multiple seven-figure additions such as Arizona State quarterback Sam Leavitt, Colorado offensive tackle Jordan Seaton and Ole Miss defensive end Princewill Umanmielen,” Hummer and Talty wrote. “Seaton is one of the highest-paid non-quarterbacks in the country at more than $4 million annually, according to sources. One source who offered Seaton a multi-million-dollar deal during his transfer process said the offensive tackle turned it down like it was almost nothing.”

They even quoted one SEC front office staffer as saying “LSU is almost in a tier of its own this year.”

With a huge payroll and high expectations, one thing is for sure: No matter what happens, good or bad, a lot of people will be watching, and that includes “College GameDay.”