Ole Miss will require LSU to provide a complete passenger manifest before entering Oxford this weekend, along with an updated copy before the Tigers are permitted to leave town following Saturday night’s game.
University officials said the new procedure is intended to ensure “an accurate accounting of all individuals entering and exiting campus” during what is expected to be an unusually busy weekend.
The initial manifest must include all LSU players, coaches, analysts, support staff and other members of the traveling party. A second list will be collected after the game and compared line by line before LSU’s buses are cleared for departure.
“We’re not anticipating any discrepancies,” an Ole Miss official said. “We would simply prefer not to discover one somewhere around Jackson.”
Officials said LSU will also be required to disclose any passengers added between kickoff and departure, including individuals who may have “made a personal decision regarding future transportation arrangements.”
The policy comes ahead of Lane Kiffin’s first return to Oxford as LSU’s head coach, following an offseason in which several familiar faces also made their way from Ole Miss to Baton Rouge.
Ole Miss stressed that the manifest requirement should not be interpreted as a reflection of any specific concern.
“This is purely procedural,” the official said. “We inventory a lot of things around here.”
Under the new guidelines, LSU buses will be staged in a secure area after the game while Ole Miss personnel conduct a final count. Any passenger appearing on the outbound manifest but not the inbound version may be asked to provide identification, proof of prior LSU affiliation, and an itemized list of anything they’re taking with them.
Players listed on both manifests will be allowed to leave without incident.
Probably.
Ole Miss officials declined to say whether similar procedures will be used for future visiting teams, noting that most opponents “generally leave with the same people they brought.”
LSU has reportedly raised no objection to the requirement and is expected to submit its paperwork Friday evening.
Sources close to the program said the Tigers have even offered to simplify the process by leaving several blank lines at the bottom of the departure form.
Ole Miss did not find that helpful.