By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
If LSU football coach Lane Kiffin appeared as shell-shocked late in his team’s 31-13 to Alabama Saturday night as Brian Kelly did in his 49-25 loss to Texas A&M last year, here’s part of the reason why.
It was Kiffin’s most lopsided loss as a head coach in a home game since he was at Florida Atlantic in 2019 and lost to No. 18 Central Florida, 48-14, on Sept. 7, 2019.
Adding to the dumbfounded look was the fact that LSU led 13-10 late in the third quarter, albeit for about two minutes.
Kelly also led A&M at halftime of that game at 18-14 before all Hell broke loose. The Aggies outscored the Tigers, 21-0, in the third quarter and 35-7 in the second half. The scene of a quiet, mostly empty Tiger Stadium as the LSU-A&M game ended a year ago was nearly exactly the same to the picture at the end of LSU-Alabama 2026.
Alabama also outscored LSU by the same 21-0 over the 36 seconds of the third quarter and the fourth quarter for the win.
“They took the bye and did a lot of things in different ways that they had never done.” -Lane Kiffin on getting out-open-weeked by Kalen DeBoer. https://t.co/l8HgaQdQ6S
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) November 9, 2026
The big difference is Kelly got fired the day after that game. Kiffin did not get fired on Sunday or Monday. And he’s not going to get fired. … At least not this year. It is his first season, and even though the NCAA Transfer Portal has facilitated quicker program turnarounds in recent years, it still doesn’t happen overnight or usually in just a year.
But Kiffin was not offering many excuses at his weekly press conference on Monday, other than his usual mention of LSU’s key injuries this season – defensive back Dashawn Spears for the season and tight end Trey’Dez Green for four games. But Green’s back, and Alabama has had more key injuries than LSU as have several other teams.
Kiffin is not sidestepping the home loss part in front of a packed and raucous 102,321. Not when he had the lead just as the sun “found its home in the western sky, and it is now Saturday night in Death Valley,” as it is said on Tiger Stadium loudspeaker before Garth Brooks blasts a live version of “Callin’ Baton Rouge.”
No, he’s talked too much about how “different” and wild Tiger Stadium is to dismiss it now.
And he knows where he and his program are, evidenced by a message in the LSU football building on Monday that said, “Welcome to the dark side of being the villain.”
Time to embrace the Dark Side https://t.co/mLYa3227gf
— Michael Cauble (@Cauble) November 9, 2026
“The loss in Tiger Stadium, yeah, that’s bad,” Kiffin said.
Especially since Kiffin was 33-3 at home in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium at Ole Miss from 2021-25 after a 2-3 mark in his first season in 2020. His three home losses since over his last five seasons were by 20-17 to Kentucky in 2024, 30-24 to Alabama and 24-22 in Mississippi State in 2022. He was 8-0 at home last season, 6-1 in 2024, 7-0 in 2023, 5-2 in 2022 and 7-0 in 2021. He was 4-0 at home this season, but none of those wins came against teams currently ranked. Alabama came in at No. 5 in the College Football Playoff rankings, but as a touchdown underdog.
“I feel bad for our fans, for the state,” Kiffin said. “We’re supposed to win those games. We’re certainly not supposed to score 13 points in a game ever.”
And No. 14 CFP LSU fell to 6-3 overall and 3-3 in the SEC and plummeted from No. 15 in the Associated Press poll to No. 24. The Tigers are in danger of missing the playoffs for the seventh straight year as they prepare to host No. 7 Texas (7-2, 4-2 SEC) on Saturday (6:30 p.m., ABC).
“That’s not the expectations we have,” Kiffin said of the Alabama loss and the 6-3 start. “It’s not what we’re used to and not what it’s going to be like here.”
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