University of Mississippi football coach Lane Kiffin is bringing some new twists to this year’s Grove Bowl which is now called the Grove Bowl Games.

The event this weekend will include seven-on-seven action and some skills competition fun.

“Some fraternity and sororities will be involved,” Kiffin said at a recent press conference. “There will be an obstacle course, a dunk competition and a hot dog eating competition.”

Joining the hot dog eating competition will be champion competitive eater, Joseph Chestnut.

Chestnut, 40, won his 16th Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest this past July and also holds world records in chicken win eating contests, Krystal burger, hard-boiled eggs and even Twinkies.

In getting Chestnut to come to the Grove Bowl Games, Kiffin said he just did “what everybody does nowadays.”

“I just DM’d him. I slid into his DMs,” Kiffin said. “It should be exciting for people to watch and see and I think it’ll be pretty cool for our fans,” Kiffin said.

The Grove Bowl Games kick off at 3 p.m. on April 13 in the Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Admission is free and gates open at 2 p.m.
Free parking will be available west of the stadium throughout the day, including the SJB Pavilion garage, the coliseum lot and portions of the track lot. Reserved baseball lots, which are east of the stadium, will be reserved for fans with baseball parking passes.

All competition in the Grove Bowl Games will be offense vs. defense with points applied to the skills tests in addition to the scoring in the 7v7.

The Grove Bowl Games will be streamed live on SEC Network+ (on the ESPN app) with an announcer team of Tom Hart and Jordan Rodgers. The Ole Miss Radio Network will also broadcast the festivities with David Kellum, Harry Harrison, John Darnell and Brett Norsworthy on the call.

Also part of the weekend will be an Ole Miss baseball home series against Mississippi State. The Rebels and Bulldogs begin the three-game set with a Friday night matchup at 7 p.m. (SECN), followed by Saturday at 7:30 (ESPN2) and Sunday at 1:30 (SECN+).