By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
At some point Saturday evening, LSU football coach Lane Kiffin and probably most of his players may pause for a moment and say, “This sure as hell ain’t Ole Miss.”
The No. 10 Tigers (4-1, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) play at the northernmost outpost of the original 13 SEC programs on Saturday (6 p.m., ESPN) at No. 25 Kentucky (4-1, 2-1 SEC) in Lexington, which is as much or more in Big Ten country than SEC land.
LSU has played at Kentucky only twice beginning in 2003. But even when the two played every season from 1952 through 2002, they were never rivals. There was just too much distance with four states in between – Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee and a little of Missouri. That’s too much space for any real hate, or national interest.
Plus Kentucky’s a basketball school, and consistently over the history of the SEC, it is the only real SEC basketball school. The basketball program’s iconic Rupp Arena is named after one of the greatest college basketball coaches of all time. Kentucky’s football stadium was named after a grocery story in 2017, and not even a really nice one.
Kroger Field, really? What’s the name of the baseball stadium? K-Mart Park?
Trips to Kentucky for the LSU football team and fan base over the years have been viewed much more like a refreshing weekend than the Crusades marches on Tuscaloosa, College Station, Auburn, Gainesville and Oxford over the years. An afternoon betting the horses at Keeneland in Lexington for the fans, then a nice afternoon or night of football.
At least that’s what LSU folks usually thought going in, mainly because LSU has dominated Kentucky in Baton Rouge, 24-5-1. In Lexington, though, LSU leads only, 16-12, and the Tigers have lost their last two there – 42-21 in 2021 with a bad team and 43-37 in triple overtime in 2007 with a team that went on to win the national championship with two OT losses.
But here the Tigers are again expected to win by at least 10.5 points against a Kentucky team with a soft defense – 104th in the nation against the pass (232 yards a game), 92nd in total defense (376.6 yards a game) and 75th against the run (144.2 yards a game). And LSU is No. 3 in the nation in total offense with 547.8 yards a game, 13th in passing yards a game at 310.2 and 15th in rushing with 237.6 yards a game.
In addition, LSU quarterback Sam Leavitt appears to have righted himself, partly because a minor hamstring injury against Texas A&M on Sept. 26 forced him to quit cuttin’ and runnin’ if his first receiver wasn’t open. He could have his best game as a Tiger Saturday night, and he has already thrown for 300 or more yards twice and rushed for more than 100 once and more than 60 on another occasion. Plus, he has cultivated a handful of nice targets at wide receiver while favorite tight end Trey’Dez Green recovers from a knee injury suffered in the fourth quarter at Ole Miss. Starting defensive back Dashawn Spears was lost for the season at Ole Miss with a knee injury.
Kentucky has a dangerous offense with quarterback Kenny Minchey, but LSU is No. 2 in the nation in total defense (220.6 yards a game), No. 4 against the run (58.4 yards a game) and No. 18 against the pass (162.2 yards a game).
The rain and lighning in Lexington from former Hurricane Isaias that made landfall near Destin, Florida, Friday night may be the only thing that can stop LSU’s offense Saturday night.
Compared to Ole Miss at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium three weeks ago, Kentucky at Kroger will be a picnic of making groceries for the Tigers.
“Being our first road game together with all these new players and them playing together for the first time, that probably wasn’t the best environment for them to go into for their first one,” LSU first-year coach Lane Kiffin said. “But at the same time, now that we did it, wouldn’t think this (Kroger) would be the same. It’s like when we make practice harder than the game.”
So the game seems easier on the players. And Kroger could be easier to the players and Kiffin than Vaught-Hemingway was.
“Your first road environment was like that, and it’s hard to recreate it anywere – that many people with a common hatred toward one person,” Kiffin said.
That person being Kiffin, who as Ole Miss’ coach from 2020-25 made Vaught-Hemingway tougher to play in for opponents than at any time for a prolonged period in Ole Miss history since Johnny Vaught himself.
“That, as everyone said watching it (LSU at Ole Miss), was pretty unique,” Kiffin said.
And good for Kiffin to learn from and get over. He seemed so concerned with not letting himself get too hyped up at Ole Miss that he was too subdued. Watch him let it loose Saturday along with offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. and Leavitt.
They may double that point spread.
But if LSU wins by only one point, it will still be a watershed victory for Kiffin, who will enter the Kroger aisle looking for just his second SEC road win over a ranked team. Kentucky is not ranked in the Associated Press media poll, but it is No. 25 in the USA Today coaches’ poll. Kiffin’s only previous was 34-26 at No. 13 Oklahoma last season. He is 1-9 in that category at three SEC schools.
LANE KIFFIN ON THE SEC ROAD VS. RANKED TEAMS (1-9)
2009 (0-2 as Tennessee’s head coach)
-Lost at No. 1 Florida, 23-13
-Lost at No. 1 Alabama, 12-10
2020-25 (1-6 as Ole Miss’ head coach)
-Lost at No. 1 Alabama, 42-21, in 2021
-Lost at No. 18 Auburn, 31-20, in 2021
-Lost at No. 13 Alabama, 24-10, in 2023
-Lost at No. 2 Georgia, 52-17, in 2023
-Lost at No. 13 LSU, 29-26, in overtime in 2024
-Lost at No. 9 Georgia, 43-35, in 2025
-Won at No. 13 Oklahoma, 34-26, in 2025
2026 (0-1 as LSU’s head coach)
-Lost at No. 8 Ole Miss, 32-24
In all SEC road games as an SEC head coach, Kiffin is 14-15 for a .482 winning percentage. That is not bad, considering that in all SEC vs. SEC games from 2021-25, the road team lost approximately 40 percent of the time. And of Kiffin’s 15 SEC road losses, three were to the No. 1 team with two of those close, and one was to the No. 2 team. Take away those, and he’s 14-11.
Against unranked teams in the SEC on the road, Kiffin is 13-6.
LSU, by the way, is 0-6 on the road in the SEC since October of 2024. Its last SEC road win against the ranked or unranked was on Oct. 19 of that season when then-coach Brian Kelly and his Tigers won 34-10 at Arkansas to go to 6-1 (3-0 SEC) and then got ranked No. 8. That was the last high point of the Kelly era. He went 7-6 (4-6 SEC) the rest of the way before getting fired last October.
The Tigers have not beat a ranked SEC team on the road since No. 21 Missouri, 49-39, on Oct. 7, 2023, in Kelly’s second season. Since then, LSU is 0-7 on the road in the league against ranked teams.
After Kentucky, LSU’s next road game against a ranked SEC team will be on Nov. 21 at No. 14 Tennessee (4-1, 1-1 SEC), where Volunteers fans will be waiting for Kiffin’s second return to Knoxville as coach of another SEC school. But he coached his last game for Tennessee 17 years ago. One would think the Vols will be over it. And Kiffin and Ole Miss won 31-26 at Tennessee in the 2021 season.
So, Kiffin may never play a more difficult road game as LSU’s coach than he did on Sept. 19, 2026.
“So, maybe,” he mused, “it will be really good for us.”
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