Lane Kiffin’s track record against Kentucky is the kind that keeps a coach honest. He’s faced the Wildcats five times as a head coach and won four of them, but none of those games came easy. Every meeting was decided by seven points or fewer, two went to overtime, and Kentucky’s lone win in the stretch was a 20-17 result in Oxford in 2024.
Now Kiffin is back in the matchup in a different uniform and a different job, with No. 10 LSU set to visit a sold-out Kroger Field on Saturday.
It will be his sixth crack at Kentucky and his first as LSU’s coach, while the Tigers try to erase what happened the last time they played in Lexington. That 2021 trip ended with Kentucky rolling to a 42-21 win.
Kiffin’s first shot at the Wildcats came in 2009, when he was in his only season at Tennessee. The Volunteers were down 21-14 at halftime before pulling out a 30-24 overtime win.
In 2020, Ole Miss was staring at a 28-14 third-quarter hole before storming back for a 42-41 overtime victory. Kentucky ran for 408 yards that day and still lost.
Ole Miss also won in 2022, again by a touchdown or less.
The Wildcats finally got one back in 2024, and they did it in dramatic fashion. Coach Mark Stoops went for it on fourth-and-7 from his own 20 while trailing 17-13 late, a gamble that set up Kentucky’s winning push. Kiffin didn’t hide how that one landed.
"That day sucked," Kiffin said this week in his weekly press conference.
Last season also included a 30-23 Ole Miss win in Lexington after the Rebels fell behind 10-0. That result gave Kiffin and his teams three straight victories in Lexington.
"To come on the road in the SEC and win is hard," Kiffin said.
This year’s Kentucky team looks a lot different under Will Stein, the SEC’s youngest coach at 36. He arrived in December after three seasons as Oregon’s offensive coordinator and has already given the Wildcats some big moments.
Kentucky beat then-No. 9 Texas A&M in Week 3 at Kyle Field and followed that with a 35-34 overtime win at South Carolina in Week 5.
Kiffin said he sees a bit of himself in Stein, another young offensive coach who got a major job early. Kiffin was 31 when the Oakland Raiders hired him in 2007.
He’s now in his first year at LSU and has the Tigers sitting at 4-1 with one of the nation’s most balanced and dangerous rosters. LSU has been strong on both sides of the ball, ranking third nationally in offense and second in defense.
Kentucky’s numbers tell a tougher story. The Wildcats are last in the SEC and 122nd nationally against the run, and they’ve also had problems on third down on both offense and defense.
Even so, Kiffin has pointed out that Kentucky still does some things well. That leaves this SEC meeting with a familiar question attached to it: can Kiffin finally turn one of these close calls into something more comfortable, or will Lexington keep making life difficult for him?
In Other News...
LSU Gets A Reassuring Injury Report Before Kentucky Game
LSU heads into its SEC matchup with Kentucky carrying the same kind of availability report it was expected to have, with five Tigers ruled out and no late surprises attached to the list. For a team trying to keep its focus on the conference grind, the news matters less for who is missing than for the fact that the absences were anticipated well in advance, leaving the Tigers with a clearer read on how they will line up.
Kentuckys report is a little more layered, with five players out and a mix of questionable and probable tags that could still alter the depth chart by kickoff. The most encouraging sign for the Wildcats is that Jason Patterson and Aaron Gates are not on the injury report at all and are expected to be available, which gives Kentucky some stability as it tries to navigate a shorter margin for error in an SEC game that already carries plenty of weight. [Read more 🡒]
Lane Kiffin Is Building An LSU Threat Ole Miss Can't Ignore
LSU is nearing the midpoint of its first season under Lane Kiffin, and the Tigers have already shown enough on defense to make the rest of the SEC pay attention. Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt has been among those encouraged by what LSU has done on that side of the ball, pointing to a pass rush and overall defensive profile that could keep the Tigers in the race for the SEC Championship as the schedule gets more demanding.
For a team with Kiffin now running the show, the early storyline has been a little different than the usual offensive fireworks associated with his name. LSUs defense has stood out so far, and that creates a different kind of threat for opponents, including Ole Miss, which knows the tougher stretch is still ahead for the Tigers. The real test now is whether that strong start holds up once LSU gets to the hardest part of the schedule. [Read more 🡒]
LSU Heads Into Kentucky With Major Injury Questions On Both Sides
LSUs injury picture keeps evolving as the Tigers get ready for Kentucky, and the list of unavailable players already includes several significant season-ending losses. Wide receiver Phillip Wright III, safety Dashawn Spears and linebacker Charles Ross are all done for the year, forcing LSU to keep reshuffling pieces on both sides of the ball while trying to maintain its footing in the SEC race.
Tight end Trey'Dez Green adds another layer of uncertainty, with his recovery timeline still unclear even as there is some hope he could return sooner than expected. In the meantime, LSU has been leaning on replacements like safety Tamarcus Cooley and linebacker Davhon Keys, and how well those fill-in roles hold up could shape what the Tigers look like against Kentucky and beyond. [Read more 🡒]