The LSU-Ole Miss rivalry has been a powder keg all offseason, and the latest revelations involving Lane Kiffin may have just lit the fuse. With the Tigers and Rebels set to meet in Week 3, the tension between the two programs has reached a fever pitch. Every week this offseason has seemingly produced a new story reigniting the hatred over Kiffin’s departure from Ole Miss, but the past two weeks have been the craziest yet.

Ole Miss fans have been the loudest voices criticizing Kiffin for his efforts to bring former NFL players onto LSU’s roster. With a court ruling coming up on Thursday, the tension has only grown. But a new layer was added to this saga on Tuesday when CBS Sports’ Jon Talty published multiple pieces tied to a book he’s publishing called Lane Being Lane, detailing several things about Kiffin’s personal life.

One story published today reportedly implicated Kiffin in trying to take down Ole Miss by encouraging Clemson coach Dabo Swinney to go public over tampering allegations involving Luke Ferrelli.

“Kiffin egged Swinney on to go public against the Rebels, which he did in a jaw-dropping press conference where Swinney brought the receipts and implored the NCAA to look into the case,” wrote Talty. “Kiffin even passed along information, according to multiple sources, to help Swinney in his crusade against Golding and Ole Miss.”

Kiffin’s alleged role in the tampering saga changes the dynamic

What Talty is essentially outlining here is that Kiffin was motivated to get revenge for how he was treated on the way out of Oxford. If true, that would make Kiffin the catalyst behind one of the biggest stories of the offseason — the tampering debate that consumed college football for weeks. It paints a picture of a coach who didn’t just leave a program, but actively worked to damage it from the outside.

This matters because the tampering allegations surrounding Ole Miss and new head coach Pete Golding became one of the sport’s most polarizing storylines. The idea that Kiffin orchestrated parts of that narrative adds an entirely new dimension to the rivalry heading into their Week 3 matchup.

It feels like everywhere we turn, there’s another reason for Ole Miss fans to hate their former head coach. This latest layer is that he helped a rival coach put a target on the Rebels program, which only deepens it.

While Kiffin received an unfriendly welcome when he returned to Knoxville to play Tennessee, their reaction feels soft compared to how Oxford could treat him.