USC, Ole Miss cancel home-and-home football series in 2025, 2026

USC and Ole Miss won’t meet on the gridiron. Heavy sigh.

The USC and Ole Miss football programs have canceled their home-and-home series, originally scheduled for 2025 and 2026. Lane Kiffin won’t coach against USC.

Michael Katz, a USC alumnus who covers Ole Miss sports for the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, noted the Kiffin angle in his report:

“Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin served as USC’s head coach from 2010-2013, compiling a 43-28 record before being fired after five games into the 2013 season. Following his dismissal from USC, Kiffin took over as Alabama’s offensive coordinator and then as FAU’s head coach before being named Ole Miss’ head coach in December of 2019.

“Kiffin has led the Rebels to a 34-15 record in his four seasons, including the first two 10-win regular seasons in program history. Ole Miss has been to a pair of New Year’s Six games under Kiffin, including the Peach Bowl last season against Penn State. The victory over the Nittany Lions secured the first 11-win campaign in school history.”

The Trojans tried to back out of their game against LSU this season, but could not. This, on the other hand, is an arrangement Ole Miss was willing to go along with. It’s obvious that USC doesn’t want to overextend itself in nonconference scheduling, given the difficulty of Big Ten schedules.

Visit our friends at Fighting Irish Wire, Buffaloes Wire, and Ducks Wire. Follow our newest sites, UW Huskies Wire and UCLA Wire.

Check out more NFL draft coverage with the USA TODAY Sports NFL Draft Hub.