Kiffin returns to Oxford

Lane Kiffin makes his first trip back to Oxford as LSU's head coach for a top-10 matchup against No. 8 Ole Miss and No. 7 LSU at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.

An emotionally charged weekend

The matchup between the two top-10 teams headlines an emotionally charged weekend between Ole Miss and LSU fanbases.

Reinforcements arriving from the South

Oxford Police will receive mounted patrol units from New Orleans and Mobile to help manage the expected crowds during the game weekend.

“They've been here before and our mounted patrol has gone down to Mobile and New Orleans. We have a good relationship with the mounted patrol units in those two departments.”

Planning underway for weeks

Oxford Police Public Information Officer Breck Jones confirmed the security arrangements have been in development for weeks, following a pattern established during previous big games.

“This has been in the works for weeks.”

Bigger than LSU and Florida

Oxford Police anticipate this weekend's crowd will be larger than last year's LSU and Florida games, which were among their busiest weekends.

“You think back last year, some of our busiest weekends were probably LSU and Florida.”

Horses more than double

Oxford PD normally deploys six mounted patrol horses on game days. With 13 additional horses from visiting departments, the total will reach 19 for this weekend.

Nearly 150 officers mobilized

Oxford Police will deploy their full staff of nearly 150 officers working 12-hour shifts from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. throughout the week.

Standard game-day operations

Oxford Police emphasize they're not implementing anything beyond their typical game-weekend protocol, including detectives, school resource officers, and traffic management.

“We're not doing anything beyond what we already do every game weekend.”

Not heightened security

Oxford Police reject the characterization of their measures as heightened, saying their goal is simply to ensure everyone stays safe and gets home safely.

“Our goal is for everyone to be safe whenever they come to Oxford. We want everyone to come out and have a good time and get home safely.”

Focus on small details

Police stress they treat every game day the same way, crossing their t's and dotting their i's to focus on small details that keep everyone safe.

“To us everyday is day one. We want to work everything.”