By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
Lane Kiffin is neither a Road Warrior nor a Road Worrier.
He may be 1-10 as a Southeastern Conference coach against ranked SEC teams on the road since 2009, but he is not trending that trend.
Kiffin was 13-11 on the road overall in the SEC while at Ole Miss from 2020-25. He was 1-3 as Tennessee’s head on the SEC road in 2009. He is 0-2 in SEC travels this season, but both teams are ranked in the top 12 of the latest Associated Press poll – 32-24 to No. 7 Ole Miss on Sept. 19 and 35-34 in overtime to No. 25 Kentucky on Oct. 10. Those two teams are also a combined 11-2 overall and 7-2 in the SEC.
His No. 18 Tigers (5-2, 2-2 SEC) will try it again away from home Saturday against unranked Auburn (4-2, 2-2 SEC) at 11 a.m. on ABC. LSU is a touchdown favorite, but Auburn is coming off a 27-24 upset at No. 1 Georgia.
“Yeah, probably a little bit overrated,” Kiffin said of his team needing to “learn to win” on the road. “Kick goes in, and somebody says, ‘You learned to win, man.’ And then it hits the upright, and they say, ‘You guys don’t know how to win on the road.’ I think it really goes back to execution in critical situations.”
LSU had a third-and-goal at the Ole Miss 6-yard line in the final moments and missed on two plays to lose, 32-24. Before Kentucky’s walk-off two-point conversion attempt in overtime tied 34-34, a Kentucky player obviously false started just before the snap, which would have moved the Wildcats back five yards and likely resulted in an extra point for a 34-34 tie with the game continuing. But Kentucky was awarded a timeout allegedly called before the play. Kentucky got another play, made the two-point conversion and won 35-34.
“We’ve had as bad breaks as anybody,” Kiffin said. “False start on a two-point play doesn’t even happen, and doesn’t count. And we get an apology for it,” Kiffin said of the no-call on the false start (presumably from the SEC office).
“Thanks,” he said sarcastically.
Considering how close he was to possibly being 6-1 or even 7-0, Kiffin is not ready to change his preparation for road games such as Auburn on Saturday.
“A lot of times on the road, as you break down your losses, and close losses, they’re usually not as much how many plays they make,” he said. “It’s more the mistakes you make – more penalties, more false starts and more turnovers than when you play at home.”
Asked if tweaks need to be made operationally for LSU’s next road game, Kiffin said, “The good thing is they’ll have practice at it, because we have five SEC road games.”
After Auburn, LSU plays at Tennessee on Nov. 21 and at Arkansas on Nov. 28.
“I don’t know, we’re always looking at everything,” he said. “I don’t want to over-analyze where you change just to change, because we’re not getting that question if we go for it on fourth-and-one and make one yard (at Kentucky in regulation while leading 27-24). Or stop them in the two-minute (after LSU punted). So, there are so many things in that game that we’ve talked about. Four series where we were ahead. If we do one of the four, then no one is saying, ‘Oh, you need to change what you do on the road.’ So, I don’t think there’s too much data there yet to change.”
Not yet anyway.
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