By Glenn Guilbeau, Tiger Rag Editor
First-year LSU football coach Lane Kiffin has been in Baton Rouge for nearly 10 months, but he continues to sound like a tourist.
First it was all the restaurants and friendly people he noticed.
Then it was Mardi Gras, followed by the intense heat of summer.
“It’s hot at 6 a.m., and it’s hot at 6 p.m.,” he said recently.
And on Saturday, Kiffin got his first taste of Tiger Stadium on the home side after five visits as a coach on the other side – two as Alabama’s offensive coordinator in 2014 and ’16 and three as Ole Miss’ head coach in 2020, ’22 and ’24. He won both with Alabama, including a 20-13 overtime victory in 2014 and a 10-0 win in 2016 that was 0-0 after three quarters. He lost all three with the Rebels – 53-48 in 2020, 45-20 as the No. 7 team in the nation to an unranked LSU in 2022 and 29-26 in overtime in 2025 at No. 9 team to the No. 13 Tigers.
Kiffin and his rejuvenated, No. 11 Tigers with 60 new players, including 42 from the transfer portal, put on a light show of sorts after about a two-hour lightning storm delay with a 51-10 crash and burn of No. 23 Clemson before 102,321 at an exploding Tiger Stadium.
“For myself, being there five times, but always on the other sideline, I had always pictured, ‘What would that have been like?’ Because you could feel the weight coming down on you on the opposing sideline,” Kiffin said to open his second coach’s show of the season on Thursday night at the Court To Table restaurant near the LSU campus.
His coaching buddy, former LSU head coach Ed Orgeron, who is now on Kiffin’s staff told him, “Just wait, man, it lifts you up.”
Kiffin noticed that right off.
“It really does,” he said. “But I thought it would during the game. It did it in warm-ups. In warm-ups! I felt like there’s no way we’re going to lose, because the crowd was just so energetic and so excited for us to play. And it just really fit the players’ excitement. I was happy that the day went the way it did, because it had been a long eight, nine months that we’d been here of going through a lot to put on a performance for three hours that everybody’d be happy with.”
Greg Sankey whiffs again. Didn’t get restraining order from delayed federal suit case vs. LSU at home in Birmingham Wednesday – Strike 1. No LSU expulsion vote Thursday – Strike 2. No punishments for LSU Thursday – Strike 3. @kacehk https://t.co/GH4IDxL1et
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) September 10, 2026
Kiffin did not touch on the news out of Birmingham, Alabama, on Thursday from the meeting of presidents and chancellors of the 16 Southeastern Conference schools that included no announcement of any reprimand, fine or any other punishment of Kiffin or LSU related to Kiffin recruiting and gaining commitments from former NFL roster members after they were cut.
That was likely because Kiffin never added the two players he recruited – tight end Dae’Quan Wright of the Cleveland Browns and defensive tackle Zxavian Harris of the New Orleans Saints – to his roster after they each enrolled at LSU. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey pressured Kiffin not to add those players to his roster for weeks and continued to do so after a judge in Baton Rouge ruled the players could play for LSU. Now, those two players may be suing the SEC for lost wages from NIL deals they had or were about to have with LSU.
Greg Sankey’s “strange, conjectured, seemingly completely made up, garbage” lawsuit vs. LSU has been postponed. And Sankey doesn’t get temporary restraining order he wanted, possibly jeopardizing strange vote on booting LSU from SEC.https://t.co/Otj4TA9btB
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) September 9, 2026
Sankey and the SEC’s federal lawsuit against LSU over allegedly orchestrating lawsuits that freed Wright and Harris was delayed on Wednesday by a judge in Birmingham, Alabama, with no reason given, But that delay happened the day after after Kiffin locked Wright and Harris off his roster by putting two returning LSU players who are out for the year with injuries on the roster to reach the 105 limit. Then a scheduled vote by the league presidents and chancellors on whether or not to kick LSU out of the SEC for the NFL recruiting controversy on Thursday was canceled before the same presidents and chancellors decided not to punish Kiffin or LSU for the time being.
So, take away Kiffin not putting the two players on the roster to adhere to Sankey’s wishes last Friday, and LSU is 4-0 since Saturday with the win over Clemson and three wins over Sankey and the SEC:
- The delay of the SEC’s lawsuit (which could have ended it all together).
- The scratching of the LSU expulsion vote from Thursday’s meeting (and possibly forever).
- And LSU not receiving any punishment for now (or maybe ever).
“It was just a really neat night,” Kiffin said of the win Saturday. “You guys have been on the home side a lot in this stadium. I haven’t. So to feel that in the warm-ups, ‘Callin’ Baton Rouge (song),’ the whole thing, I was ready for it.”
Kiffin wanted himself and the team to not get into the pre-game excitement, but that didn’t work out.
“I tried to get them ready for it, ‘Hey, we don’t expend a lot of energy guys. It’s going to be a long game. Let’s make sure we conserve energy in warm-ups. Let the crowd affect the other team,'” Kiffin said. “And then all of a sudden, like, I found myself all jacked up. And then I look at the players, and they’re over there yelling with the student section. So, it was really cool. The whole thing was awesome – the walk, it was like Mardi Gras. So many people and so much excitement for the game to finally be here. I just can’t imagine a better feeling from a group of fans and a town for what it was like for me and for all the new players.”
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