Lane Kiffin may want to take a closer look before complaining about kickoff times.
Ole Miss and Georgia were handed one of next week’s night slots, with the game set for 7:30 pm EST. LSU and Alabama, meanwhile, got a 3:30 pm EST kickoff on the same day, and that left Kiffin frustrated enough to speak up. He argued that the LSU-Alabama matchup should have been played at night because, in his view, it’s a true rivalry between two great teams this season.
But the numbers tell a different story, and they don’t exactly help his case.
Since the SEC’s new TV deal started in 2024, LSU has been treated like a permanent fixture under the lights. The Tigers have played 16 of their 19 home games at night, which works out to 84 percent.
That’s the most in the conference by a wide margin. Auburn, Texas A&M and Kentucky are next with 10 home night games apiece.
Georgia, by comparison, has barely gotten any of those prime-time home dates. The Bulldogs have had just four home night games since 2024, tied for the fewest in the SEC along with Mississippi State and Arkansas. Even more striking, Georgia and Mississippi State have each played only 4 of 18 home games at night, or 22 percent.
The discrepancy gets even sharper when you narrow it to SEC conference games. LSU has hosted eight night SEC games, more than Ole Miss and Georgia.
That’s why Georgia looks like the team that ought to be grumbling here, not Kiffin. The Bulldogs won the SEC in 2024 and 2025, and they’re the favorite to win it again this season, yet they still haven’t been rewarded with the kind of home night games that usually go to the league’s biggest attractions.
Instead, Georgia has spent more time playing in hostile environments after dark than enjoying that advantage at home. Since the start of the 2024 season, the Bulldogs have been the road team in six night games. That total will rise to seven next week at Ole Miss.
For a team that has gotten so few home night opportunities, that’s a rough split. The Bulldogs haven’t had a home night game yet this season, and they have only two chances left to get one: Missouri and Georgia Tech.
If the SEC is going to keep handing out the lights, Georgia probably deserves one of them.
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For athletic director Josh Brooks and football coach Kirby Smart, the agreement underscores how central those partnerships have become in supporting student-athletes and keeping the Bulldogs competitive on and off the field. Learfield CEO Cole Gahagan also framed the extension as part of the larger push to grow athletics revenues, which makes this more than a routine contract update, it is a forward-looking move with the potential to shape how Georgia presents itself for years to come. [Read more 🡒]