Saturday’s LSU-Ole Miss football game turned out to be not just a battle on the turf, but also a battle in the streets of Oxford, Miss.
Incidents of vandalism, violence and unruly crowds began Thursday night as someone spray-painted “LSU” on some bricks in the vicinity of the Ole Miss alumni center, said Clay Cavett, assistant director of alumni affairs at Ole Miss.
“Sometime between 5 p.m. Thursday and 7 a.m. Friday morning someone had written ‘LSU’ in some kind of white acrylic paint,” Cavett said. “Any time you have a game like this you’re going to have unruly fans, though.”
This event is the only reported incident of graffiti, despite reports and rumors that someone had spray-painted the Alumni Center purple and gold.
“It wasn’t even visible from the street,” Cavett said. “There was no purple and no gold.”
Cavett said the alumni center promptly had the paint sandblasted off.
“Personally I thought the fans were fine,” Cavett said. “It was a great college football atmosphere.”
Randy Corban, chief of Ole Miss campus police, said the campus police made 17 arrests during the weekend.
“It’s not an abnormal amount,” Corban said. “The majority of the arrests are for public drunkenness and disorderly conduct.”
Corban said he thought LSU fans were a minority of the arrests.
Jesse Gomez, director of special projects for LSU Student Government, said she warned the participants on the SG bus trip to beware of unruly fans.
Gomez said she received phone calls on the way up to Ole Miss telling of LSU students vandalizing Ole Miss property.
“We told everyone on the bus trip to make sure they were on their best behavior,” Gomez said. “Everyone was really anxious, but we made it all right.”
Perhaps the worst disturbance of the weekend was on Friday night when an estimated 2,250 people congregated outside the bars and restaurants in Ole Miss’ Square, the equivalent of LSU’s Tigerland.
Stephen Bramlett, city of Oxford chief of police, said the problem began around 11 p.m. when some of the bars in the Square filled to capacity and refused to let anyone else in.
“People were around 15 deep on each side, LSU and Ole Miss,” Bramlett said. “Some of the LSU students still thought they were in Baton Rouge and thought they could drink outside, and we had to remedy that problem.”
Bramlett said officers became involved when the opposing sides lined up on different sides of the streets leading into and in the Square, and began yelling inappropriate language, and committed other violent acts.
“We arrested anyone who tried to take it to another level,” Bramlett said. “When someone would rip off their shirt or throw a bottle, they had to go.”
Bramlett said the police department arrested 16 people Friday night for violations including disorderly conduct and public drunkenness.
Bramlett also said he thought his officers showed a lot of restraint in controlling the crowds.
“It didn’t make a difference whose side they were on,” Bramlett said. “It wasn’t just LSU fans or Ole Miss fans; everyone was treated fairly.”