By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
The arrival of LSU football coach Lane Kiffin is still two days away in Tampa, Florida, on Thursday for the Southeastern Conference Media Days.
But his presence was in the air and on the podiums at the Tampa Marriott Water Street on Monday as the four-day talk fest began.
Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz, who could have become LSU’s coach last December had Kiffin turned the job down and stayed at Ole Miss or gone to Florida, backs what Kiffin has said frequently over the last several months about the new SEC nine-game schedule. Kiffin was against the nine-game format, particularly since SEC commissioner Greg Sankey went to it partly because he thought the College Football Playoff would expand to 16 games from 12 by now. But it hasn’t.
“Coach Kiffin has been somebody who’s been the one on the forefront of that,” Drinkwitz said Monday. “He said, ‘Guys, I don’t think this is the right play for us.'”
And Drinkwitz agrees with Kiffin.
“There are some things we look back on in the SEC, and maybe we shouldn’t have done it that way,” he said.
“I was very outspoken in meeting with the commissioner, with presidents and athletic directors that that was not a good idea until the system of how they selected teams was fixed,” Kiffin said last April during a spring practice press conference at LSU. “Until it was fixed, until there were automatic bids, until it was truly fixed – when strength of schedule matters as it should like in basketball, it made zero sense to me to go add another hard game. You’re putting teams on the road five times in this conference, which top to bottom, is the hardest conference to play, and in the hardest stadiums.”
LSU plays a record five road SEC games this season.
“But we did it,” Kiffin said. “I understand there’s always things that go into decisions besides the way I think. I’m sure there were financial reasons for it, but I don’t think anybody now that they’ve seen how selections have gone, thinks there’s value in that. The teams that are 10-2 are in, 9-3’s out. Now, you’ve got some more losses in your conference and beat yourself up more.”
Without more playoff entries.
“They’re real,” SEC commissioner on talk of potential of his league entering the Portal, so to speak. @kacehk https://t.co/aAXZHxUIvM
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) July 20, 2026
Tennessee coach Josh Heupel also engaged in some Kiffin conversation as he made light of Tennessee fans hurling objects on the field late in Kiffin’s and Ole Miss’ 31-26 win over Heupel at Tennessee in 2021. Kiffin famously picked up a golf ball and a mustard bottle (for hot dogs and hot dog coaches apparently) off the field that landed near him. He still has both items, perhaps for evidence.
“Whether it’s the grocery stores being fully stocked with mustard or our sports stores making sure that they got reinforcements on the golf balls, hopefully Knoxville will be ready for his arrival,” Heupel said.
Kiffin and the Tigers will play at Tennessee on Nov. 21.
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