By KACE KIESCHNICK, Tiger Rag Staff Reporter
Lane Kiffin made an appearance on ESPN’s “College GameDay” in Oxford, Mississippi ahead of the Southeastern Conference clash between No. 7 LSU and No. 8 Ole Miss at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday.
The Tigers head coach updated quarterback Sam Leavitt’s status after he was listed as “doubtful” on the initial SEC availability report on Wednesday.
“Sam’s doing great,” Kiffin said via video call. “Early in the week, he had a scare in practice, but he’s had a great recovery. Worked really hard, and he’s ready to go.”
Leavitt reportedly missed parts of practice with back spasms on Wednesday, leading to the injury designation. He was upgraded to questionable on Thursday’s report and left off of the Friday report altogether, indicating he will be available when the Tigers take the field in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
Kiffin’s nearly five minute long interview was drowned out by choruses of boos and vulgar chants from Rebels fans on the set of GameDay. Even with the hate on full display, Kiffin continued to deflect any of the drama surrounding his return.
“It’s not about me,” he said. “Both teams have great players, great coaches. I have a lot of respect for their program, so this is about the players performing really well tonight in a really awesome matchups between two top 10 teams – national game of the week. So, both programs should be really excited.”
It is the first top 10 meeting between the historic rivals since 1962. Ole Miss won that game 15-7.
Former LSU coach Nick Saban has experience flipping sides of an SEC rivalry and visiting his former school as an opposing head coach. He led No. 1 Alabama to a 27-21 win over No. 15 LSU in his first game back in Tiger Stadium in 2008. Saban asked Kiffin about how he is preparing his team for the emotion of Saturday night.
“Obviously, it’s going to be there, and there’s going to be some of it, especially for some of these coaches coming back, for most probably some players coming back, but to play on execution,” Kiffin said. “This will be a really competitive game for a long period of time with a lot of plays, and so you got to really stay focused and not listen to all the noise and all the chatter that you can bring to the stadium. But thanks, guys. I really appreciate you gaslighting them this morning with this.”
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