By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
Lane Kiffin will find that LSU can really get just different if he loses a second straight game on Saturday night.
Suddenly, LSU is right back where it was last September after a loss at Ole Miss – teetering on the brink of another exit from the College Football Playoff.
The No. 10 Tigers (2-1, 0-1 Southeastern Conference) are back home for a night game (6:30 p.m., ABC) against No. 23 Texas A&M (2-1, 0-1 SEC) and solidly secure in a more comfortable routine than the hot hell that was Oxford, Mississippi, last weekend in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Only problem is LSU may already be in a College Football Playoff elimination game on Saturday.
“I think last week was different than any game we’ll ever play,” Kiffin said on his radio show Thursday of his Ole Miss return just 10 months after leaving the blushing program at the altar of its first College Football Playoff and first chance to win a real national championship since Johnny Vaught in the 1950s and ’60s.
“I mean it just is what it is, especially with a number of players who were there last year with me,” Kiffin said. “And you’ve got a lot of coaches that had been there, and had been there for a long time. And they had great memories there. It was a very unique setting – probably never happened in sports, because even when you used to go back to a place years ago, there wasn’t the transfer portal.”
And the wound left at Ole Miss – a coach judging it not as good a job as its forever hated rival LSU – was still very fresh. And that made the Rebels’ 32-24 win that much sweeter.
“It was a lot,” Kiffin said. “So, I don’t think we’ll ever be in that situation again.”
“Whew,” he could have sighed in relief for both fan bases, coaching staffs and complete administrations collectively for at least three or four days afterward.
Back to normal football. The Grove will be silent Saturday as now No. 4 Ole Miss (3-0, 1-0 SEC) will be at No. 21 Florida (3-0, 1-0 SEC) at 2:30 p.m. on ABC.
Tiger Stadium will not be quiet, but the fan base will sure be humbled amid the realization that you can’t just buy a national championship – not in the first month anyway. It takes time. Kiffin wasn’t going undefeated.
LSU’s administrative leaders should quiet all the braggadocious brand and “just different” talk for a while. LSU didn’t look that much different Saturday at Ole Miss than it did in its 24-19 loss at Ole Miss last year with a struggling offense at times and a defense that played well until it was the wrong time not to.
Just calm it down, shut up and get back to work. Get Ole Miss out of your mind and off your twitter. Because Ole Miss is just better than LSU, and it has been since 2021.
“Just calm down, do your job, and be yourself, because that’s going to be enough,” LSU safety Ty Benefield said during player interviews on Tuesday. “Unfortunately, we had to take a loss to really understand that.”
And if you don’t watch it, you’re going to take another loss.
That’s the funny thing about Ole Miss and LSU after such an energy draining heavyweight bout. They could each lose on Saturday – a week after each program’s Armageddon of emotion.
Florida, which beat Auburn 44-39 last week, might be a very good team and is catching Ole Miss in Gainesville at the perfect time – on cloud nine. Chances are Ole Miss will be more spent than the Gators in this Kiffin Consolation Bowl as both tried to keep Kiffin away from LSU.
Meanwhile, Kiffin and staff will earn their huge salaries this week, if they win. Ole Miss exposed a litany of problems for the Tigers, and the best coaches know how to put out fires.
Here are three that must be extinguished, at least partially, for the Tigers to beat the Aggies.
RUNNING QUARTERBACKS ARE KRYPTONITE: Just like last year, LSU defensive coordinator Blaker Baker’s unit got flat dominated by Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss. And more kryptonite lies ahead for Baker as A&M quarterback Marcel Reed has shredded his defense the last two years.
In six quarters over two games against’s Baker and the Tigers, Reed has completed 14 of 23 passes for 272 yards and two touchdowns while rushing 22 times for 170 yards and six touchdowns. Maybe playing Reed just a week after watching Chambliss complete 33 of 48 for 363 yards and two TDs and rushing nine times for 36 and a touchdown will help Baker prep for Reed.
“At the end, we didn’t finish,” Kiffin said after watching the same thing Brian Kelly saw the season before in the fourth quarter. “Our biggest fear every minute was when the game’s at the end, and Trinidad has the ball in his hand. That’s why he’s the hardest player to play in America.”
LSU won’t face anyone as good as Chambliss again this regular season, but Reed is close. And Baker better get his defense ready for that ilk. Especially since LSU is more talented and faster than it has ever been on defense under Baker with additions like Benefield, edge rusher Princewill Umanmielen and linebacker TJ Dottery.
SAM LEAVITT INACCURACY: LSU quarterback Sam Leavitt has not played as advertised. At times he has thrown as inaccurately as Garrett Nussmeier last year, and Nussmeier was hurt all last season. Leavitt is healthy, despite an injury report or two.
Leavitt has actually been a better runner than a passer as misfires to wide open receivers have plagued him, and several of those have happened when he’s not under a heavy rush. And to think the concern entering the season was how his surgically repaired foot from an injury last season at Arizona State would impact him. Both feet are 100 percent. In fact, his feet might be too good, because they’re too happy as he too often exits the pocket too quickly.
“One possession game, and we go all the way down there,” Kiffin said of the sorry end at Ole Miss. “We got a guy open (tight end Zach Grace with injured starter Trey’Dez Green out) to try to tie it. And we miss him.”
Leavitt was not under a heavy rush on that play, but he feels the rush from previous plays that aren’t there.
“I know people will watch and see the receivers open and say, ‘Well, Sam missed him, and he’s running around too much,’” Kiffin said. “But when you get rushed like that early that makes the quarterback move around early.”
Through his first three games, Leavitt’s numbers belied his portal rankings, which had him as the No. 1 overall prospect and top quarterback. He was 97th nationally and 14th in the SEC in passing efficiency with a 127.3 rating, including just 7.8 yards per attempt, after Ole Miss.
“He’s very competitive,” Kiffin said. “We’ve got to play better around him. But we’ve got to make the throw. We’ve got to get the passing game back on track. Just be more consistent.””
OFFENSIVE LINE PUSHED AROUND: Which brings us to the offensive line, which like last year has been often dominated. A lot of new faces, but same results. Even after LSU’s impressive, 41-10 win over Clemson in the opener, Kiffin said starting guards Bo Bordelon and Aliou Bah needed to get better. They have continued to struggle. Even No. 1 portal tackle Jordan Seaton couldn’t handle Ole Miss defensive tackle Will Echoles in pass protection.
The line has allowed seven sacks of Leavitt and countless hurries.
“Yeah, we’re going to look at some different things up front,” Kiffin said. “Because we need to play better and more consistent up there.”
The running game is there, but Leavitt has too often been under a heavy rush before he can even get set. Look for LSU to go old school in this game with running back Dilin Jones to set up the pass.
LSU overall will slow things down, play less emotional and play better.
“When you’re too emotional, you can make bad decisions in football,” Kiffin said. “That’s a good life lesson, too.”
And if LSU doesn’t beat Texas A&M, Kiffin will learn what it’s like to be LSU’s coach at 2-2 when you’re supposed to be 4-0.
Be the first to comment