By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
New LSU football coach Lane Kiffin must have felt like he could have tossed a few touchdowns, or doubloons, or beads himself Saturday night as the inaugural Krewe of Kiffin rolled for the first time on North Stadium Drive.
Head coaching debuts do not get any better.
-A 51-10 win over a ranked team in Clemson, which may have been a mistake as the No. 23, once-proud program folded like an in-state rent-a-win. But still this was a ranked team.
-Kiffin’s offense, which offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. runs and calls plays in while Kiffin directs and is executive producer, set an LSU record for first downs with 38, including an amazing 11-for-16 run on third down. Clemson, meanwhile, managed only eight first downs and went 1-for-13 on third down against defensive coordinator Blake Baker, whom Kiffin wisely kept from the previous staff instead of going into the portal. LSU’s defense forced an incredible nine three-and-out punts and 10 punts overall.
-The most rushing yards for LSU at 309 since Nov. 11, 2023, when LSU got 329 in beating Florida, 52-35, with soon-to-be Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Jayden Daniels getting 234 of those. But Daniels didn’t really need an offensive line in that one. In this one, Kiffin’s remodeled offensive line punished Clemson’s defense as Kiffin transfer running back Dilin Jones gained 113 yards on 23 carries off guards and tackles. As genius a passing game coordinator Kiffin is and has been, he always values the running game and has always been good at it. Former coach Brian Kelly never had a decent tailback-led running game, and LSU hasn’t had one this good since the 2019 national championship season.
“Haven’t played a game yet, so we’ll see.”
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) September 6, 2026
-LSU’s Sam Leavitt when asked Tuesday if he was “that kind of running QB again” after foot surgery. And we all did. https://t.co/G2OyMJafXc
-New transfer quarterback Sam Leavitt, also courtesy of the Kiffin Portal, didn’t run as well as Daniels, but he was similar to LSU’s other great running quarterback – Joe Burrow – as he rambled and dashed for 113 yards and two touchdowns on 12 carries. He was a little off early on his passing, but he still got it together and finished 16-of-28 for 230 yards with a nice 32-yard touchdown to Ole Miss transfer Winnie Watkins. Leavitt completed passes to eight players, including seven new transfers.
-LSU gained 644 total yards – the most since 667 against South Alabama in a 42-10 win in 2024.
-LSU’s defense limited Clemson to 40 yards rushing and 1.5 yards a carry.
-LSU last hung half of a hundred against a major college also in that 52-35 win over Florida in 2023.
-Not even a near two-hour weather delay from the scheduled start of 6:49 p.m. to 8:41 p.m. could rain on Kiffin’s parade, and it didn’t appear that anyone left.
-LSU has not scored so much and allowed so few in a head coach’s opener since Nick Saban’s 58-0 win on Sept. 2, 2000, but that was against Western Carolina.
-Then when it was all over, someone threw Kiffin a football as he headed for the locker room, and he threw it back. Too bad he didn’t have any beads.
“Felt like I was back at Mardi Gras,” he said. “It was pretty awesome. It was pretty electric.”
And, again, he wasn’t talking about the lightning as he directed the human-made Electric Light Orchestra of the LSU Nation even before they “spotted the ball,” as he says. He did everything but light the barbecue in the tailgates.
“I think the whole day was really neat – how electric the campus was,” he said. “That’s what LSU is supposed to be. That’s why we’re here. I’m not making huge statements. It’s one game, but I’m just saying, that’s the LSU swagger.”
It’s back. Under this just different guy who everybody hates, and I’m not sure why. I can see why people hate LSU’s other villain – men’s basketball coach Will Wade. Kiffin pushes the outer edge of the envelope, yes. But he doesn’t steal the envelope.
“That’s the energy,” he said. “That’s how the stadium is supposed to be.”
Thank you.
“It’s hard to come in and play here, hard to play on offense (for the opponent), especially quarterbacks,” he said. “I commend the fans a lot because you could have left. You have this big delay. You’ve been up all day (with many drinking most of the day and early night). And all of a sudden, you don’t know how long the delay is going to be. And it’s raining. And there’s lightning, and you could leave.”
In the same situation, would Ole Miss fans have stayed? Kiffin used to complain about Ole Miss’ fans not sticking things out while he was in that neighborhood from 2020-25.
“But we came out to an electric atmosphere,” Kiffin said, and again he wasn’t talking about the lightning. “I think it started there. It started seeing the fans’ energy there. And so, that was really cool to see, and I appreciate that a lot.”
And he sounded a little surprised.
Just two weeks ago, he even gave a bit of a disclaimer about his offense.
“Don’t over-think this fans, when you hear this and get nervous,” he said. “But when you have a portal-heavy, first-year team, that team improves throughout the year. So, as you look at our offense, it’s almost all portal, and then Sam (Leavitt) missing time.”
Meaning, the offense will be better in time, but not necessarily early in the season, he seemed to be saying.
Not exactly, because this offense was great practically right off, and it surely surprised Kiffin as LSU kept the lights on and transferred the energy all night. No generator needed.
Kiffin already has ignited a bunch of lights – Sam Leavitt (transfer), Dilin Jones (transfer), Trey’Dez Green, Winnie Watkins (transfer), Eugene “Trey” Wilson III (transfer), Jordan Seaton (transfer), Whit Weeks, Princewill Umanmielen (transfer), Dashawn Spears, TJ Dottery (transfer), Ty Benefield (transfer). And those are just some of the players who performed so well when the lights came on, and the list will go on through what is looking like an electrically charged season.
And the opponent on this night melted in the heat.
“The strength of that defense is not the defensive tackles,” Kiffin said, and could’ve included other parts of that kindly Clemson defense, which allowed 6.9 yards a play and 15.2 yards a completion. “We’re running. We’re throwing. We’re not getting much pressure.”
Clemson’s “offense,” meanwhile, averaged 3.0 yards a play.
“That’s hard when you’ve got no running and no yards rushing,” Kiffin said.
Clemson actually was at zero rushing yards on 20 carries entering the fourth quarter before finishing with 40.
“We were trying to make them one dimensional,” Kiffin said. “And then the goal was to make them zero dimensional. And that’s what happened.”
Total annihilation.
And entertaining as hell.
Just two years ago next month, Kiffin was on the other side of Tiger Stadium, wallowing in a 29-26 overtime loss to LSU in a game he should’ve won. As he spoke, chanting LSU fans outside seemed about ready to break the opponent’s locker room door down, like something out of “Night Of The Living Dead.” He even once even turned and looked.
Kiffin was 0-3 as Ole Miss’ coach in Tiger Stadium.
“That locker room sucks over there,” he said of the cramped, dingy other locker. “It’s great to be on this side. I’ve been over there when it’s been really intense, and I was glad to be on this side. It was pretty awesome, really cool.”
Kiffin then evoked Bruce Springsteen’s “Mansion On The Hill” from his 1982 “Nebraska” album.
In the summer, all the lights would shine
There’d be music playing, people laughing all the time
Me and my sister, we’d hide out in the tall cornfields
Sit and listen to the mansion on the hill
That mansion, Tiger Stadium, is home now for Kiffin.
“If you’ve only been on that other side of something, you’re always like, ‘What would that be like?’ Kind of like maybe you drive by a house somewhere,” Kiffin said. “And you’re like, ‘Man, what if we ever lived over there?’ And now you get to. It’s pretty cool.”
Welcome, to Baton Rouge, Mr. Kiffin.
You really didn’t move here until Saturday night.
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