By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
During the introductions at the Baton Rouge Rotary Club luncheon at Tiger Stadium on Wednesday, one of the dignitaries mentioned LSU finishing off “a great season” by beating Iowa, 33-15, in the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas, to finish 1971 off at 9-3, No. 11 in the Associated Press poll and 3-2 in the Southeastern Conference.
“What a great season is has changed around here,” new LSU football coach Lane Kiffin cracked as he took the podium.
Some media members and fans out there may refer to a 9-3 record this season for LSU, which is entirely possible and possibly likely, as a failure and would put Kiffin on the hot seat. Never mind he inherited a 7-6 team that was 3-5 in the SEC last season.
SEC Network’s Benjamin Watson says Lane Kiffin and LSU have to make the National Championship this year 👀 pic.twitter.com/6uLLGcbTIF
— CFB Kings (@CFBKings) July 21, 2026
But Kiffin did sign the No. 1 transfer portal class in the country with 41 players, including the top quarterback in the portal in Arizona State’s Sam Leavitt, the top offensive lineman in Jordan Seaton from Colorado and the No. 1 edge rusher in Princewill Umanmielen from Ole Miss. Though Umanmielen and LSU are facing a lawsuit by Ole Miss over the $550,000 buyout Ole Miss says he didn’t pay. Ole Miss transfer offensive lineman Devin Harper is also being sued by Ole Miss over his $400,000 buyout.
LSU athletic director Verge Ausberry, who introduced Kiffin on Wednesday, said he couldn’t comment on the lawsuit after Kiffin spoke.
“It’s a legal matter,” he said.
The talent glut, regardless of possible legal fees, coming in and the $91 million contract over seven years for Kiffin, who left Ole Miss after six seasons last November for LSU, has the Tigers trending for more of a “great” season in 2026-27 than what happened in 1971. The hope, or demand, is for LSU to reach the College Football Playoff for the first time since the 2019 season when the Tigers won the national title at 15-0.
Lane Kiffin addressing Baton Rouge Rotary Club luncheon now. pic.twitter.com/6DIHKW47be
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) July 29, 2026
“I didn’t know what I was walking into today,” Kiffin said – not of his new job, but of the crowd of several hundred at the LSU Stadium Club at South Gate 20. “I didn’t know how big this was going to be. I didn’t know I was going to get a peace pole.”
That was a gift from the Rotary Club, and Kiffin said he was going to bring it to Ole Miss when the Tigers play his old school on Sept. 19 (6:30 p.m., ABC) and to Tennessee on Nov. 21 when he returns to another former school in which he served as head coach in 2009. Kiffin is the first football coach in history to be the head coach at three SEC schools.
“And I didn’t know all we’ve got to do is go to the Sun Bowl to have a great year,” Kiffin said. “It’s going to be a peaceful year.”
Not if the Tigers are in El Paso on New Year’s Eve for the Sun Bowl that afternoon.
Ausberry, who hired Kiffin, certainly has higher hopes than El Paso for the holidays.
“He coined the term that we feel when we try to describe this place. ‘We’re just different,'” Ausberry said as he introduced Kiffin. “And we’re going to win.”
Kiffin was careful not to make any bold predictions about the 2026 season, which opens on Sept. 5 against Clemson in Tiger Stadium (6:30 p.m., ABC).
“Verge told me, ‘Remember, there are cameras back there,” Kiffin said.
But Kiffin surely sounded enthusiastic, particularly about being on the other sideline of Tiger Stadium after visiting as Alabama’s coach in 2014 and ’16 for tough 20-13 (overtime) and 10-0 wins before losses in 2020 (53-48), ’22 (45-20) and ’24 (29-26, overtime) as Ole Miss’ coach.
“I’ve been on that other side, and when the sun sets, you’re like, ‘Where are we?’ It’s a true home field advantage,” he said. “There’s a weight. We were here a couple of years ago, and we were ahead. But then it was like, ‘Here they come.’ You can feel the weight of the crowd from the whole stadium.”
The weight will be on Kiffin’s side now so as to lift him and his team, but that weight can always shift if there are too many Sun Bowl-type postseason games and no playoffs.
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