LSU football coach Lane Kiffin said the haunting images of Saturday’s 32-24 loss at Ole Miss reached a new low with his players following film study two days later.
Kiffin, who spent six years building Ole Miss into an upper echelon Southeastern Conference program that reached the College Football Playoffs in 2025, admittedly dealt with his own share of tug-of-heart emotions afterward which grew deeper after his own look at the game’s film.
“It was a lot,” he said during his weekly news conference with the local media Monday.
The players, four of which played for Kiffin at Ole Miss last season before transferring to LSU, went through critical moments for a team that gave up the game’s first 17 points in the first half. The Tigers then stormed back, tying the game with 17 unanswered points on Scott Starczyk’s 23-yard field goal with 11:21 to play.
That drive, which reached the Ole Miss 3-yard line before Starzyk’s field goal, was part of Kiffin’s vantage point about how close LSU was to victory instead of a difficult eight-point loss.
No. 10 LSU (2-1) hosts No. 23 Texas A&M (2-1) at 6:49 p.m. on Saturday at Tiger Stadium.
“The game was right there to be won,” Kiffin said. “We go down there, have a chance to take the lead and settle for the field goal on the three-yard line when we’re running a normal goal line, getting it closer to go on fourth down. The next time there’s two guys open in the end zone for a touchdown, and we get three combined points.”
Kiffin, who previously coached with former LSU coach Ed Orgeron at USC and Tennessee, unveiled the team’s Monday mantra ‘To Tell the Truth Monday’ which was a staple under Orgeron, now a special assistant to Kiffin.
The first day of the week brings players together to watch film with their position coaches and either of the coordinators before turning their attention to that week’s opponent.
The Tigers are officially onto the next game which in this case is against Texas A&M which also lost its SEC opener to Kentucky, 31-21.
“I think they really struggled with this one after seeing it, after breaking down the film, Kiffin said. “I feel really like after seeing it, they lost the game in so many situations and areas. Defensively, (they) played a really good second half and they scored one time.
“It’s not even a run the quarterback pulls the ball on,” Kiffin said reference to Ole Miss’ quarterback Trinidad Chambliss’ go-ahead 14-yard run with 6:14 remaining. “We do a really good job of beating the tight end on it and Trinidad just pulls the ball. It’s not even a zone read and he goes and scores.”
LSU picked up three first downs, including a 13-yard pick up from quarterback Sam Leavitt on fourth-and-four, and reached Ole Miss’ 10-yard line.
A 5-yard gain from Leavitt, and a false start by reserve tight end Matt Grace, created a second-and-goal from the 11. Leavitt threw incomplete for Grace at the goal line and was intercepted with 55 seconds left by Jaylon Buxton in the end zone following a tip by Cam Franklin.
“We had two guys open in the end zone at the end of the game,” Kiffin said. “Those are really hard ones to struggle with when you go back and look at see how many ways that we came all the way back and should have won the game. It was tough on them. There are games where you just get out-played, out-coached and you go OK, ‘Back to the drawing board.’ That one they really struggled with this morning seeing.
“At 10 (a.m.) when we transition to the next opponent, I told them we had to regroup,” Kiffin said. “We had to move on because we can’t let that missed opportunity have to do with us losing another game.”
There was additional angst when LSU’s players learned of the fate of junior star-position player DeShawn Spears who was lost for the season with an undisclosed injury. They will also play without standout junior tight end Trey’Dez Green who required assistance leaving the field in the fourth quarter.
Green is expected to miss several weeks which is better than the alternative, and will be replaced by Grace, a 6-foot-2, 234-pound transfer from Oregon, or 6-3, 243-pound junior Malachi Thomas, a transfer from Pitt.
“Matt’s improved, he knows stuff pretty well, (he’s) a good blocker,” Kiffin said. “Malachi has been a little up and down. We need him to be more consistent. This is what happens. This is why you try and sign depth for these situations. Obviously, we had another situation of which we knew, this wouldn’t have been an issue. It is what it is.”
In place of Spears, who had seven tackles, a sack and quarterback hurry, the Tigers will look at sophomore linebacker CJ Gimcoily (6 tackles in three games) or freshman safety Jhase Thomas of Destrehan High.
LSU lost redshirt sophomore defensive end Gabriel Reliford and sophomore Aidan Anding with season-ending injuries before the season, and redshirt freshman wide receiver Phillip Wright III of Destrehan two games into the season.
“Like anything with injuries, you have to have people step up,” Kiffin said. “I’ve always said that it’s a factor in football more than any other sport by far. It’s out of your control. You’re going to have some years that you have really good year. Last year we had great luck. … Lost one starter the whole year. This year it’s going the other way.
“This is the fifth and sixth guy(s) lost for the year since we’ve been here,” Kiffin said. “That’s a crazy number. It’s unfortunate.”
