By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
New LSU football coach Lane Kiffin continued to try to stop the hungry and often unrealistic Tigers’ fan base from automatically assuming a national championship in only his first season in 2026. But a national title is coming.
“I don’t know how fast it’s going to happen,” Kiffin said on former LSU great Tyrann Mathieu’s “In The Bayou” podcast this week. “But we’re going to win a national championship. And we’re going to have the teams and the rosters back to the way that they were playing when they were great. I don’t know how fast. It might not be today, but it’s going to happen.”
The last time it happened was seven years ago this season in 2019-20 when Kiffin was finishing his last season as Florida Atlantic’s head coach before getting the Ole Miss job. LSU won the national championship with its best season in history at 15-0 under coach Ed Orgeron and quarterback Joe Burrow.
“He’s pretty much full strength now.”
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) June 17, 2026
-Lane Kiffin on LSU Franchise QB Sam Leavitt’s recovery from foot injury on Honey Badger’s podcast.https://t.co/A7Y6rQAogZ
Kiffin has what appears to be a national championship roster – on paper – going into the 2026 season, which starts on Sept. 5 in Tiger Stadium against Clemson (6:30 p.m., ABC). He only signed the No. 1 Transfer Portal class in the country with enough players for two classes at 41, and most of that class is returning for 2027 with still others beyound that.
“I feel it in recruiting, too, when these kids come in now,” he said.
Just this week, Kiffin has gained commitments from five prospects to climb from a No. 50 ranking by 247sports.com to No. 19 with 13 commitments. Included in those five are No. 4 edge rusher Chris Whitehead of Chesterfield, Virginia, No. 5 offensive tackle Terrance Smith of Lansdale, Pennsylvania, and No. 7 running back David Segarra of Duncan, South Carolina.
“Now that we’ve got our staff fully here, and we know how to sell LSU, too,” Kiffin said. “Because now we’re meeting up with people and know the restaurants and the areas and the people – it’s number one. It’s like Nick Saban said. It’s the best job in America.”
Saban, who won LSU’s first national championship in football since 1958 in the 2003 season, had Kiffin as his offensive coordinator at Alabama from 2014-16. The Tide reached two national championship games with Kiffin and won the 2015 title. Saban, who retired after the 2023 season with six Alabama national championships and a record seven overall, advised Kiffin to take the LSU job last season because of its potential. The Tigers have won three national championships this century under three coaches and played in four national title games.
Lane Kiffin makes a National Championship promise for LSU 👀🏆
— In The Bayou With Tyrann Mathieu (@InTheBayouPod) June 17, 2026
“I don’t know how fast it’s going to happen, but we’re going to win a national championship. We’re going to have the teams and the rosters back to the way they were playing when they were great.” pic.twitter.com/z1zlZj0j55
Mathieu was a consensus All-American defensive back on the 2011 LSU team that was one of the Tigers’ best in history on defense. The No. 1 Tigers beat No. 2 Alabama. 9-6, in overtime in Tuscaloosa that season and finished as 13-0 Southeastern Conference champions before losing to the Tide, 21-0, in the national championship game in the Sugar Bowl. Mathieu finished fifth for the Heisman Trophy that season and won the Chuck Bednarik Award as the nation’s best defensive back before a 12-year, three-time first team All-Pro NFL career with a Super Bowl title.
“I’m excited for the season,” Mathieu told Kiffin. “I can’t wait, man. I cannot wait. I’m sort of hesitant, though, to put the highest expectations on you.”
Kiffin inherits a team that finished 7-6 last season and 3-5 in the SEC – the Tigers’ second below .500 finish in the league since 2021.
“I know everyone here is about wins and losses, but my expectations are that we play really smart, physical football,” Kiffin said. “And we’re really good in situations, but the style comes back. Like, I want people to fear LSU the way that I had to fear LSU when I was at Alabama. When we were going to play LSU, you knew it was on, especially when we were on offense against their defense. It was on. And you better hope that game is not at LSU, and please don’t be at night. Because we were like, ‘Are we even going to score at all?’ Because the guys are going to be on elite speed and mindset and physical. I want to bring that back.”
Kiffin was 3-0 against Alabama when he was the Tide’s offensive coordinator – 20-13 in overtime at Tiger Stadium in 2014, 30-16 at Alabama in 2015 and 10-0 at LSU in 2016 when the score was 0-0 until the fourth quarter. Saban was 6-2 against LSU at Tiger Stadium.
LSU returns third-year defensive coordinator Blake Baker, who has gradually improved the Tigers since inheriting one of the worst defenses in the country from the 2023 season.
“I want to feel that dominating LSU defense that people are scared to play,” Kiffin said. “You might do OK, but you’re going to be sore on Sunday.”
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