No. 13 LSU, winner of four straight games, returns to Tiger Stadium after the bye week to host No. 9 Ole Miss for a highly anticipated Saturday night in Death Valley.

Kickoff is scheduled for 6:44 p.m. CT on ABC and the LSU Sports Radio Network. Sean McDonough (pxp), Greg McElroy (analyst) and Molly McGrath (sideline reporter) will join the call.

Saturday night will not only be LSU's homecoming game, but also the 100th anniversary celebration of legendary Tiger Stadium, one of the most iconic venues in all of sports.

“What excites me and our players is an SEC game at Tiger Stadium,” said head coach Brian Kelly. “The energy, the excitement – not that the other games weren't exciting – but this is different. This all reaches a new level.”

Welcome to Death Valley.
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The Tigers used the bye week to improve in all phases after defeating South Alabama 42-10 in their last game on Sept. 28. Now with two off weeks sprinkled into a college football season, LSU will focus more on recovery for the second time before the Alabama game on Nov. 9.

“We had a chance to really work on a number of things within our team that needed improvement,” Kelly said. “Early in the season, it wasn’t so much a recovery week for us as it was strengthening some things on offense, defense and special teams.”

Quarterback Garrett Nussmeier enters Saturday's contest as the SEC leader with 15 passing touchdowns. His 330.4 passing yards per game rank 2nd in the league and 5th nationally. Through five games, LSU's QB1 has completed 138 of 198 passes for 1,652 yards, 15 touchdowns and four interceptions.

Freshman Caden Durham leads the Tigers in rushing with 244 yards and three touchdowns on 29 carries. Coach Kelly said Thursday that he expects the freshman to play against the Rebels after leaving the South Alabama game with an injury.

Defensively, sophomore linebackers Whit Weeks (41 tackles, 4.0 TFL) and Greg Penn (38 TFL) have led the defense through the first five weeks of the season. Defensive end Bradyn Swinson recorded five sacks, six tackles for loss and two forced fumbles, while Sai'vion Jones recorded 4.5 sacks, 5.5 TFL, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery, which was his all-year record Caused chaos for the opposing quarterbacks.

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“They do a great job of having an answer for basically everything you do,” Kelly said of Ole Miss’ offense. “We need to mix it up. You can't play a lot of soft coverage, otherwise you'll just get exploited at the edge with quick play and run after the catch. The challenges we face in this offense are outside throws, tackling in space, a lot of things we did poorly last year we need to do better this year.”

Ole Miss is led by senior quarterback Jaxson Dart, who has accumulated 2,100 passing yards for 13 touchdowns. Senior running back Henry Parrish Jr. leads the team in rushing with 570 yards on 91 carries and nine touchdown scores. As a receiver, senior wideout Tre Harris is by far the most productive pass catcher with 885 yards on 52 receptions and five touchdowns.

Defensively, the Rebels are led by junior defensive tackle Walter Nolan, who has 24 tackles this year along with 2.5 sacks and a fumble recovery. Linebacker Chris Paul Jr. leads the unit with 41 tackles, while linebacker TJ Dottery and cornerback Trey Amos have 38 and 28, respectively.

“It’s a team that is productive offensively and is playing great defense right now,” Kelly said of Ole Miss. “We are facing a major challenge. We are thrilled. We know where we are in the next seven weeks because we have SEC opponents.”