PALMER: LSU’s 7-5 has been memorable

By Hunt Palmer

Firsts get remembered.

LSU’s completely forgettable 7-5 record this fall came with a ton of memorable firsts.

It provided LSU’s first season-opening win in six years. For the first time, a head coach was fired with $54 million on his contract less than a month after being ranked in the top five. Then he sued the school because the Board of Supervisors stated the fired athletic director couldn’t fire the coach while completely disregarding the same regulations for the fired offensive coordinator.

Those are firsts.

LSU didn’t score 26 points against a single FBS opponent. That’s 97 percent due to ineptitude on offense and three percent due to Harlem Berry sliding to run out the clock against Arkansas.

It’s also a first.

LSU’s fanbase watched the season finale on the road against a Top 10 team with one eye on the field and one eye on Twitter to see if a rival’s coach had come to a decision. As Isaiah Sategna raced into the end zone to sink the Tigers, thumbs across the state were refreshing the app.

I can’t recall that type of afternoon.

Meanwhile, that coach, whose playoff slot had been sealed for 30 hours, was huddled in his chancellor’s house four for hours considering a departure for a rival he’d beaten two of three years.

That one doesn’t ring a bell, either. Because it’s never happened.

As the minutes melted away, Louisiana’s focus shifted to Auburn. Tens of thousands of Tiger fans united in pulling for Alabama. I don’t need to tell you how infrequently that happens. As the Tide jumped out to a 17-0 lead in the Iron Bowl, the reality began to set in that Ole Miss would not be experiencing a first, a trip to Atlanta for the SEC Championship Game.

Perhaps that was the final hurdle left to clear in Oxford for Lane Kiffin to make the move to LSU.

If so, it would end a saga that has swallowed college football for the better part of three weeks. Ole Miss would enter the College Football Playoff with an interim head coach, and LSU would begin a new era.

That era would leave 2025’s grave disappointment in the rearview with a renewed optimism all rooted in trying to achieve the sustained success that Ole Miss has produced over the last four seasons.

That’s new, too.

One way or another, 2025 will turn to 2026, and LSU will move into the offseason with a new coaching staff and a huge roster transition. The disastrous second half of the season will fade from focus. Time marches on.

But we’ll never forget November of 2025.