Lane Kiffin has once again found himself at the center of college football’s latest mess, but the real fun this week hasn’t been the courtroom drama. It’s been the coaches taking veiled swings from a distance.
The latest flashpoint comes with LSU expected to add tight end Dae’Quan Wright and defensive lineman Zxavian Harris, both of whom were released by NFL teams in August. That move has set off a wave of outrage across the sport, and even Kiffin’s own conference responded by voting on a new rule that would carry stiff penalties for any school - LSU included - that adds a player who had previously signed a contract with a pro team. That rule, though, has already run into legal resistance from the state of Louisiana.
Kiffin defended the decision by saying his players’ leadership committee was fully behind bringing in NFL players, a line that drew a sharp response from Paul Finebaum, who called it a “flat-out lie.”
But while the lawsuits and legal threats keep piling up, the more entertaining battle has been happening in plain sight.
Texas coach Steve Sarkisian got things rolling Monday, never saying Kiffin’s name but making the target obvious enough. He said, “...
And I just can’t spend all day long looking at Twitter or X to see what’s the next court ruling. I know other people do,” Sarkisian said Monday.
“I don’t know how they do it. I can only focus on what we do to put our players in the best interest to be successful.
And I think that’s the right thing. I really do.”
He kept going from there.
“... These players on all of our rosters have been working for nine months for this moment on Saturday, which then will lead into the next five-to-six months,” Sarkisian continued.
“The fact that somebody out there is going to take a player off of an NFL roster and tell somebody who’s been doing it for nine months, ‘Go kick rocks?’ That doesn’t sit well with me.
I think that’s wrong. That morally is wrong.”
Then came Clemson’s Dabo Swinney, who was much less interested in subtlety. With his team set to open the season on the road against LSU, Swinney called the whole situation “embarrassing.”
“... I would just say it’s kind of embarrassing,” Swinney said of NFL players returning to college.
“I mean honestly, it’s just embarrassing that that’s where we are. I don’t blame the kids and people trying to take advantage of the system.
I just think it’s embarrassing where we are with college football.
“And we’ve been there for awhile. I just keep my energy, my focus on the things that I control and the things that matter and that’s these kids here and our team.
But all that outside stuff, I mean, we just kind of-no pun intended-we just stay in our lane here at Clemson. Try to.”
Earlier in that same presser, Swinney joked that he might get “turned in for tampering” because he watched practice footage of the Cowboys, Buccaneers, Wright’s Browns and Harris’s Saints in August.
It’s the kind of back-and-forth college football lives for. Finebaum taking shots at Kiffin is old news.
The legal fight over LSU is old news too. But coaches tossing out sly digs and half-laughing jabs?
That’s the good stuff.
And it’s not stopping anytime soon. The real collision comes in Baton Rouge, on Saturday night and again on the second Saturday in November.
In Other News...
LSU Clemson Opener Just Got A New Eligibility Twist
The buildup to LSUs opener against Clemson picked up another layer this week, with Dabo Swinney weighing in on the possibility that former Cleveland Browns player DaeQuan Wright and defensive tackle Zxavian Harris could be cleared for the Tigers. Swinneys comments added to the game-week buzz around eligibility, a topic that has become almost as prominent as the matchup itself as both programs prepare for one of the seasons earliest spotlight games.
Swinney made clear his frustration was aimed at the broader state of college football rules, not at LSU coach Lane Kiffin, while also settling one important piece of Clemsons side of the equation by naming senior Christopher Vizzina as the starting quarterback. For LSU, the situation only sharpens the intrigue heading into kickoff, with potential roster movement still in play as the Tigers and Tigers head toward a game that already had plenty riding on it. [Read more 🡒]
LSU Is Mourning The Loss Of A True Tigers Football Legend
LSU is remembering one of the most versatile and accomplished figures in its football history after the death of Jerry Stovall at age 85. A standout for the Tigers from 1960 to 1962, Stovall did just about everything on the field, playing multiple positions while building a resume that included unanimous All-American recognition and SEC Player of the Year honors before moving on to a nine-season NFL career.
Stovall eventually came back to Baton Rouge as a coach and later led LSU from 1980 to 1983, earning Coach of the Year honors in 1982 along the way. His death closes the book on a career that connected different eras of Tigers football, from his days as a star player to his return as the man in charge, and his place in program history is secure even as the full extent of his legacy continues to resonate. [Read more 🡒]
LSU Is Suddenly at the Center of an SEC Punishment Debate
LSU has found itself in an unusual conversation that reaches beyond the field, with speculation swirling about whether the Tigers could face punishment from the SEC over the addition of multiple players with NFL preseason experience. The league has never expelled a member school, even as other programs have come and gone on their own, which is part of what makes this kind of talk so striking in the first place. It also taps into the conferences long history of trying to police the line between competition, recruiting and amateurism.
The bigger backdrop here is the SECs own origin story, which was shaped by disputes over those same rules and the tension they created among member schools. However this latest debate plays out, it has put LSU at the center of a broader question about how far the league is willing to go when it believes a program has pushed too far. For now, the uncertainty is the point, and it leaves the Tigers in a spotlight they probably did not want. [Read more 🡒]