Lane Kiffin reveals NSFW student section chant, adds details on golf ball incident during Neyland Stadium return

Lane Kiffin has produced plenty of banner moments in the SEC. Arguably none more viral than his return to Knoxville to play against Tennessee inside Neyland Stadium. Despite being over a decade removed from his departure from the program, they were not too big of fans of Kiffin on Rocky Top.

From the get-go, students were going after Kiffin, now the Ole Miss head coach. According to Kiffin, people surrounding him were worried about his safety walking into Neyland Stadium. Tennessee fans obviously did not reach the extreme but everyone remembers what did wind up getting thrown down from the stands, outside of a few NSFW comments.

“It was on from warmups,” Kiffin said via This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von. “Everyone was there, 100,000 people. And there was this hatred toward me. I felt like Gladiator in the movie… They had a real conversation with me during the week about bulletproof vests. I’m like ‘There’s no way guys, c’mon. It’s football.’ They had three cops with me. Maybe a golf ball or a bottle.

“They were chanting like ‘F*ck Lane Kiffin.’ That actually felt kind of intense and cool. 100,000 people chanting that… And then the student section was like ‘Hey, last night, we were with your wife.’ And I’m like ‘That’s pretty funny to come up with this stuff.’ So it was intense and it kept building.”

The golf ball still lives to this day. Kiffin claims to still have the yellow ball in his possession somewhere in Oxford. Maybe a momento Kiffin likes to keep with him to remember the big-time for Ole Miss, improving the Rebels to 6-1 during the 2021 season. A mustard bottle made headlines too but not much information was given out about the condiment.

Kiffin did wonder why somebody was carrying a golf ball to a college football game. Nearly four years later, he produced a guess.

“They threw this golf ball that became famous,” Kiffin said. “They threw it at me and afterward, I’m like ‘What do you have a golf ball for?’ Like ‘I’m carrying a golf ball.’ I don’t think they’re thinking ‘I’m going to throw it. I’m going to be pissed off in the fourth quarter and throw it.’ You know what it was? It was the cheap guy that steals the range ball… So it’s just in his pocket. That’s my guess.”

We do not know the next time Kiffin will make his way to Neyland Stadium. Tennessee is not on the 2025 schedule and future dates have not been set. You have to imagine the SEC would like to get the drama-filled matchup back on the calendar.

And Kiffin is not one to shy away from play in intimidating environments. Vols fans would have a tough act to follow as having a golf ball and mustard bottle thrown at him may have been the peak.