LSU’s won its last two games in convincing fashion, ranked No. 15 in the nation and is in a four-team logjam for fourth place in the Southeastern Conference.
The schedule has the Tigers (6-2, 3-2 in SEC) enjoying an open date followed by the two biggest games of the season in succession with Alabama and Texas visiting Tiger Stadium.
But it was obvious during Wednesday’s appearance on Brandon Walker’s College Football Show on Barstool, first-year head coach Lane Kiffin was still grappling with the events of Oct. 10 in his Tigers’ 35-34 loss at Kentucky in overtime.
“I don’t know that I’ll ever get over the loss to Kentucky,” Kiffin said.
LSU rallied from a 21-17 halftime deficit, exchanged second-half field goals when Roman Mothershed took in a 41-yard touchdown pass from Jackson Harris for a 27-24 lead with 9:42 remaining in regulation.
The Tigers’ defense twice forced field goal attempts from the Wildcats that were off the mark with 4:57 and 3:11 showing, respectively.
LSU got the ball back at its 20, picked up a first down and wound up with a fourth-and-one situation at its own 43-yard line.
Following timeouts by both teams, with LSU following Kentucky, Kiffin opted to send on his punt team and Grant Chadwick for a 44-yard effort to Kentucky’s 19 with 1:37 left to play.
“We had two possessions ahead with the ball and two possessions on defense,” Kiffin said. “Just do something on one of them and we win the game. Obviously, I struggled with that. We punted and it didn’t work instead of going for it on fourth-and-one and ending the game. That one was really tough.”
Kentucky, the No. 1 team in the SEC, drove 67 yards in nine plays, when the Wildcats faced a fourth-and-one and kicked the tying field goal with 12 seconds showing.
Quarterback Sam Leavitt threw a 10-yard pass to Harris on LSU’s first play in overtime and the Arizona State transfer scored on a 15-yard run followed by Scott Starzyk’s extra point.
Kentucky answered with a first down to LSU’s 1-yard line and CJ Baxter scored on the following play. For the second straight week the Wildcats attempted to win a game on a two-point conversion which quarterback Kenny Minchey did on a draw play, triggering a storming of the field.
“It was really calculated,” Kiffin said. “Sometimes you just make decisions and afterwards you’re like, ‘What was I thinking?’ It was very calculated. We had taken the wind for the fourth quarter. Our defense had been playing really good in the game and had stopped them, and they had missed two field goals into that wind.
“There had been four others (decisions) where we kind of went against the book, where it said go to be safe because of our defense had been playing so well,” Kiffin said. “They had all worked and obviously that one didn’t. But even when it doesn’t work and they go down to score, you still got overtime and could have won in overtime, too. When it doesn’t work, I really struggle with myself. Even though it was very calculated, and a lot of people would agree with it, I just don’t like it.”
The team’s response
Kiffin’s liked his team’s response to its lowest moment of the season.
Leavitt has been at the fore of the Tigers’ offensive explosions against Mississippi State and Auburn.
He was 31 of 38 for 289 yards and four touchdowns in the 31-0 shutout of Mississippi State, and Harris caught two touchdowns among his six receptions and 85 yards.
Leavitt followed that up in a 38-17 win over Auburn last week with 32 of 45 passing – becoming the first LSU quarterback with 30-plus completions in consecutive games since Joe Burrow – for 388 yards and 3 TDs.
Harris was a key figure once again with nine catches in 14 targets for a career-high 178 yards and 2 TDs with a long of 70 yards that gave the Tigers a 24-10 lead with 4:29 left before halftime.
“(We) Played really good football two weeks in a row like I said after screwing that Kentucky game up,” Kiffin said. “It was good to see the guys play and for the most part, he’s (Leavitt) taken care of the ball two weeks in a row. Like I told our players, we have all of these stats. … lead the SEC in offense, lead the SEC in team defense.
“Us and Ohio State are the only teams in the top 10 in both categories in the country,” Kiffin said. “But we screw up in turnover margin and self-inflicted wounds. I really wanted them to stop that so they could see how good they are. The team was put together really specifically to complement each other in how they play and at times played as well as anybody in the country when you see what it looks like.”
Doubling down on Tigers
Kiffin became a polarizing figure with his decision Nov. 30 to leave Ole Miss after six seasons when he accepted the job to coach LSU, one of the school’s biggest rivals.
He won 74.3% (55-19) of his games, led the Rebels into postseason play five straight times and won three bowl games.
Kiffin allowed offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr., co-offensive coordinator/tight ends coach Joe Cox, wide receivers coach George McDonald, quarterbacks coach Dane Stevens and graduate assistant inside wide receivers coach Sawyer Jordan – all of whom signed contracts at LSU – to help coach at Ole Miss during the playoffs.
“Yeah, and even more,” he of his choice to leave Ole Miss for LSU. “Unlike that Kentucky game where it haunts me, you know, a decision in that, I’ve never thought twice in this decision. You play at home here, and the stadium and the environment. … and the state and the people, and how much support there is for football. The kids in state, and how they play and love football. We’re eight games in and to see we’ve played as well as anybody in the country at times and are a really dangerous team.”
Kiffin believes this will be the least talented team he coaches while at LSU.
“As crazy as it sounds, we will always have better rosters than we have this year,” he said. “That’s just going to be the case by the way that we recruit, and the way that we eval (evaluate). And the players that want to come to LSU, that at times at other places you weren’t able to get. That’s plain and simple.”
