The additional two hours of rain and lightning delayed Lane Kiffin’s LSU debut and ultimately became part of the postgame conversation following the Tigers’ 51-10 victory over Clemson before a sold-out crowd.
“That was awesome. That was an amazing day,” Kiffin said during his weekly news conference Monday. “To have been on the other (visitors’) side like I’ve talked about a number of times and to be on this side. (ESPN’s) College GameDay being here, and our fans’ excitement from that of going early in the morning over there. I could feel the whole situation of them banding together.”
Kiffin’s fourth trip to Tiger Stadium provided fruitful after three previous games all ended in defeat as head coach at Ole Miss.
The build up from Kiffin leaving Oxford, Miss. after six years to take the same position at Southeastern Conference rival LSU vilified him nationally because of the timing of his exodus before the College Football Playoff.
He was additionally maligned during the lead up to the game with attempting to add a pair of NFL rookies who were cut from their respective teams before playing in a preseason game.
“Going to College GameDay and they’re yelling, ‘Coach we’ve got you. We’ve got your back,’” Kiffin said of the crowd. “It was an amazing day. It is like a performance. Like a concert. You want all parts of that to go really well, and that’s important when it comes to branding, to style of play, style of your program and obviously recruiting to have days like that.
“It was a long day and a national broadcast for LSU and the performance, the show, is the most important part,” Kiffin said. “The winning performance… people around the country, kids around the country watched that and said, ‘I want to go there.’”
Both former players from Ole Miss – Dae’Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris who gained a fifth year of eligibility – were not added to LSU’s 105-man roster by Kiffin who showed that in the 10 months he’s been in Baton Rouge, the talent he and his staff stockpiled was more than enough to dispose of a Power Four Conference opponent such as Clemson.
LSU compiled its greatest offensive performance in three years with 644 total yards. Arizona State transfer quarterback Sam Leavitt opened his career with 343 total yards and four touchdowns – passing for 230 yards and 2 TDs, adding 113 and 2 scores on the ground.
The Tigers, which conceded any early field goal following a tipped interception, scored 31 straight points in the first half, and stretched that to 51 consecutive for a commanding 51-3 lead with 6:43 remaining on reserve quarterback Landen Clark’s 30-yard TD pass to Phillip Wright III.
Wisconsin transfer Dilin Jones triggered LSU’s 335-yard rushing output with 23 carries for 113 and two touchdowns. Eight different receivers caught passes with Winston Watkins Jr. leading the way with seven receptions for 100 yards and a TD.
“To have a first game like that is really important for a lot of reasons,” Kiffin said. “It’s important to the people that support our program. I say this all of the time, you have to spend money (reported roster costing upwards of $40 million) to make money. That’s business 101. Instead of trying to do things a certain way and see somehow this will maybe work and then we’ll eventually (change).”
With a retooled roster of more than 60 news players, Kiffin believed the result struck a chord with his team.
“For a first game performance for that is critical for that. It’s critical for recruiting. It’s critical for your own players,” Kiffin said. “This being players that hadn’t played with us, to say, ‘Ok, it works. If we buy in, do the preparation’. Do all these things these coaches ask which is a lot of them. This is a different program. You’re not going to come here and spend a lot of time outside the building doing a lot of other things.
“You’re going to be focused on football,” Kiffin said. “You’re not going to improve your video games. You’re not going to have a lot of social time. There’s a big commitment here. When they feel that on Saturday night, I told them now, you feel what it can feel like. You see what it can look like. It just makes it much easier for them to continue doing that.”
LSU set a school record for first downs in Tiger Stadium with 38 and was 11 of 16 on third down conversions, compared to 1 of 13 for Clemson.
The visiting Tigers had eight first downs and had 71 of their 145 offensive yards on their final drive against LSU’s reserves which resulted in the game’s only touchdown.
ABOUT FACE
By the time Kiffin met with the media at noon, he already talked with his team to address Saturday’s opponent – Louisiana Tech.
The Bulldogs are visiting Tiger Stadium for the second straight year after coming away with a competitive 23-7 loss in 2025.
“That’s a big challenge, one that I’ve been on them immediately,” Kiffin said. “Just knowing how that goes, that’s a real thing with them. It (letdowns) happens more than it used to be because of their phones. They’re constantly on their phones all day long about how great they are. Just managing against that.”
Louisiana Tech may have caught the attention of college football – regardless of the opponent – with an 80-6 home win over Northwestern State. It was the most points the Bulldogs have ever scored against a Division I foe and the 74-point margin was a school record in a season opener.
“What you do the week before, whether that was good or bad, has nothing to do with what you’re going to do the next week,” Kiffin said of his own team. “You see that all the time in all sports and college football seven days later. There are things that will shock you when you try and compare the scores from the week before, or even common opponents. Things we all try and figure out later in the year. It doesn’t really have anything to do with it.
“It’s a very complicated sport of the performance, and so many individuals involved over so many sports,” Kiffin said. “It’s hard to predict Saturdays and you need to reset, you need to practice the way that we do, prepare the way that we do. I challenged that we have one week. We took two weeks to prepare for Clemson. You don’t have near as much time. Your focus has to be elite.”
