By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
The honeymoon for Lane Kiffin is not over.
But it’s already not very special. Sort of like getting the honeymoon suite at a Shoney’s Inn in Opelika, Alabama, and there actually was one of those.
And if there was still a Shoney’s Inn in Opelika, that’s where LSU should stay next weekend for its game at Auburn … if it loses Saturday to Mississippi State. LSU and Kiffin desperately need a win today to save face and distance themselves from previous coach Brian Kelly, who at this time last season was 5-1 (2-1) SEC and ranked No. 10.
Kiffin, who is 4-2, 1-2 in the SEC and ranked 22nd, needs to show that he is just different after patenting that word for the last 11 months ad nauseum. That phrase is about to be a joke from Oxford and around the world, if Kiffin doesn’t win tonight.
LSU and No. 16 Mississippi State (4-2, 2-1 SEC) kick off at 11 a.m. on ESPN in a rare Tiger Stadium brunch with temperatures strangely in the low 50s and a high projected only into the low 70s. Football weather at last, and the Tigers are at week seven and have not played crisp football against a good team yet. The time is now.
LSU is a 14.5-point favorite, largely because State quarterback Kamario Taylor is not likely to play because of a turf toe injury. That doesn’t sound as bad as it is, because turf toe could ruin a honeymoon, particularly if hiking was on the agenda. And if one partner had a foot fetish.
With turf toe, Kamario is no longer a Camaro. He’s more like a Ford truck.
“He’s a phenomenal thrower,” Kiffin said. “Even with the injury, he can still stand in the pocket and really throw it far down the field. He’s got an incredibly strong arm.”
But Kiffin is likely not going to have to worry about LSU defensive coordinator Blake Baker trying to stop Taylor, which would’ve been a lot to worry about with Taylor at 100 percent. Should Taylor not go, State’s array of backup quarterbacks looks like something out of a Les Miles’ quarterback room.
Plus, State is also likely to be minus its top rusher in running back Fluff Bothwell because of an injury.
Baker just has to worry about State head coach Jeff Lebby, who is a Kiffin disciple as he was his offensive coordinator in 2020 and ’21 at Ole Miss. The Rebels were 10-3 and 6-2 in 2021 with a 31-17 upset over No. 12 LSU in Oxford and finished with the No. 6 offense in the nation with 492.5 yards a game. Lebby’s offense is very fast out of the gate like Kiffin’s with his offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr., who replaced Lebby at Ole Miss.
“I don’t like playing against him, because they go so fast,” Kiffin said of Lebby.
Fast and good.
This game will match two of the top 11 total offenses in the nation with LSU at a still-honeymooning No. 4 with 524.8 yards a game and Mississippi State No. 11 at 487 yards a game.
Despite quarterback Sam Leavitt’s eight interceptions and frequent misfires, the Tigers are still No. 8 in the nation in pass offense with 311.2 yards a game. State is right behind them at No. 11 with 309.2 yards a game.
But without Taylor, Lebby will be reaching.
State’s defense under coordinator Zach Arnett, also in the Kiffin tree as he was an analyst at Ole Miss in 2024, has been struggling in Arnett’s first year back in Starkville after three seasons there from 2020-22 as DC under the late and great Mike Leach for two of those. Arnett replaced Leach in 2023, but he didn’t last the honeymoon as he was fired at 4-6.
Leavitt should have a field day as State is 125th in the nation in passing defense with 260 yards allowed a game and 97th in total defense with 379.6 yards given up a game.
LSU should score a bunch over brunch and enjoy the kind of win that was expected last week at Kentucky.
And if the Tigers face a fourth-and-one at some point today, even if it’s at their own 20-yard line, look for Kiffin to go for it.
Because Kiffin needs to be the Kiffin LSU married, and that’s the different Kiffin.
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