By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
Lane Kiffin is an offensive expert, and the LSU Nation can’t wait to see what he will do with the Tigers’ attack in 2026.
LSU finished 7-6 in 2025 with the No. 109 offense in the country out of 134 upper level programs with 333.5 yards a game.
Under Kiffin and offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr., also now at LSU, Ole Miss finished 13-2 in 2025-26 and reached the semifinals of the College Football Playoff with an up tempo offense that finished No. 3 in the nation with 489.7 yards a game. Rebels’ quarterback Trinidad Chambliss was No. 3 in the nation with 3,937 passing yards and rushed for another 527.
As we reported on March 13, it’s all still happening – Will Wade potentially leaving NC State to go back to LSU:https://t.co/nsDTDFikCx
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) March 25, 2026
Kiffin is also known for having dominant running games, something lacking at LSU since the 2019 national championship season. Ole Miss finished third in the nation in rushing in 2022 with 256.6 yards a game and had the nation’s No. 3 rusher last season in running back Kewan Lacy with 1,567 yards.
But during the first day of spring practice on Tuesday, Kiffin – who has never been on the defensive side in his coaching career – found himself talking to LSU’s defensive line late in the workout.
“It’s almost like basketball,” he said after practice on Tuesday. “That’s a lot of physical conditioning, and mental conditioning. And it all starts with the quarterback, because he’s the point guard pushing everything. There’s a ton that goes into that. There’s a whole system to this – how spread it is and the tempo and the receivers playing right and left. There’s a lot of little things within that – a lot of them. That takes some time.”
On both sides of the ball, that is.
“I also saw the opposite of that today,” Kiffin said. “I went down and had a nice conversation with the defensive line at the end of practice.”
LSU defensive coordinator Blake Baker is going to have to adjust on the fly to playing against Kiffin’s and Weis’ offense at every practice this spring, then during camp in August and all season. He’ll earn his $3 million annual salary.
“They’re so far away at understanding how you have to play from a conditioning standpoint – physically, but then a mental standpoint,” Kiffin said of LSU’s D-Line. “When you have to defend tempo, there’s a whole lot of mental to it. It’s a long, really fast game that you’ve got to do a lot of stuff really fast. You’re going against a fastball pitcher every pitch, every inning. You know, Paul Skenes. And our defense up front has a long ways to go, and that was apparent today.”
It was also apparent when Baker’s defense allowed 480 yards with 166 rushing, 28 first downs and 8-of-16 third-down conversions in Ole Miss’ 24-19 win over LSU last season in Oxford, Mississippi.
The Rebels put up scoring drives of 83 yards in 18 plays over seven minutes and 30 seconds, 70 yards in five plays over 1:40, 69 yards in nine plays over 2:03 and 75 yards in 11 plays over 4:50. Then Ole Miss put the game away with an 11-play drive of 56 yards to kill the last 5:04 of the game for the win.
“So, that takes a lot of getting used to,” Kiffin said. “But I like that because we’re giving them the hardest tempo they’re going to see all year already.”
At least Baker doesn’t have to play Kiffin in any games this season. Meanwhile, LSU Radio Network sideline reporter Gordy Rush can’t wait to watch how Baker does against Kiffin and Weis in practice and scrimmages this spring and in August.
“What I’m going to be really interested in seeing is Blake, who has been known for being really exotic with all sorts of different looks and specialized packages and a lot of different personnel groups – how is he going to adjust to having to go every day against Lane Kiffin?,” Rush said on Tiger Rag Radio Tuesday night. “Because they go tempo, how much of his defense is he going to be able to install and work on during spring?”
Rush remembers too well how Baker struggled to stop Kiffin and Weis last season in the Ole Miss game.
“It was the longest first half of the season last year at Ole Miss,” he said. “Because our offense didn’t move the football very well, and LSU’s defense seemed like it was on the field forever. Lane did such a great job. When they go quick like that, you’ve got to run a base defense. You can’t make a lot of changes. You have be very vanilla. How does that impact Blake’s installation for spring? And how much of that’s limited, because the guy Baker’s going against every day in team period is trying to go as fast and possible?”
So, Baker is looking at a month of Ole Miss-LSU 2025.
“It takes a lot of getting used to,” Kiffin said. “But I like that, because we’re giving the defense the hardest tempo they’re going to see all year already.”
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