A season doesn’t define an era. Individual games can define a season.
Saturday night felt defining for the 2026 LSU Tigers.
Lane Kiffin’s short time in Baton Rouge has been statistically scintillating but devoid of substance largely due to critical decision making gone awry. LSU destroyed Alabama on the stat sheet Saturday night. None of it mattered because Kiffin’s dice rolls stayed locked on snake eyes.
He elected to kick a 57-yard field goal to open the second quarter as opposed to pinning Alabama deep. Wide left. Alabama quickly traversed 62 yards for its first touchdown.
Then he went for a fourth-and-four from the Alabama nine-yard-line down 10-3 in the second quarter. Tipped pass that was incomplete. Empty drive.
Down 17-13 early in the fourth quarter, he passed on a 53-yard field goal on fourth-and-three and elected to go for it. Leavitt’s pass was swatted at the line again.
Out of desperation, Kiffin decided to go for fourth-and-10 from LSU’s 25 down eight points with 10 minutes to play. Leavitt was sacked, and three plays later Alabama slammed the door with a touchdown.
I hated the first fourth-down try and the fourth-and-10. I agreed with the decision to kick the 54-yarder early and the decision to pass on the 53-yarder on fourth and three late.
None of it worked. Kiffin’s choice to punt on fourth-and-one at Kentucky didn’t work, either.
Kiffin has assembled a quality coaching staff and talented roster. These Tigers light up the stat sheets on both sides of the ball. However, the resume is completely hollow as the middle of November arrives.
On Saturday, LSU’s three conference wins look atrocious. Auburn needed a late field goal to come back and beat a hapless Arkansas team in Jordan-Hare. Mississippi State was beaten at home by Vanderbilt, who was housed by Arkansas in Nashville two weeks ago. Texas A&M mustered nine points at South Carolina.
Meanwhile, Clemson’s only ranked opponent this year was Miami, and the Canes went into the other Death Valley and won by four touchdowns.
Lopsided as they were, those wins stink on ice.
Moving the ball up and down the field is good. Scoring touchdowns is the only thing that matters. LSU outgained Alabama by 172 yards on Saturday and had a 27-13 first down advantage.
Alabama won by 18.
These results mirror Kiffin’s Ole Miss tenure save last year. He always mauled bottom feeders and struggled to step up when top tier competition comes knocking. He’s now winning at a 38% clip when it comes to ranked opponents.
He’s also never beaten Alabama.
That used to be a prerequisite to achievement at LSU. Every SEC West winner in program history beat Alabama. The SEC West is no more, and Alabama won’t be on the schedule next fall.
Still, the standard at LSU is to compete at the top of the sport, and this version of the Tigers hasn’t. That doesn’t mean Kiffin’s teams moving forward can’t compete for championships. Rosters turn over in staggering numbers every December and January. But this one likely won’t.
The winner of Saturday’s game was always going to feel like a real threat to make a December run. Alabama is.
LSU now faces a brutal two-game stretch that could elevate the season to interesting or plummet it into a $50 million disaster.
Kiffin has said repeatedly that LSU is “just different”. Well, next week it better be.
