Lane Kiffin has built a reputation on leaning into the moment, not backing away from it. So when LSU faced a fourth-and-1 from its own 43 with 1:46 left and a three-point lead at Kentucky, the safest call in the building felt almost out of character.
The Tigers had just moved the chains on third-and-10 when Sam Leavitt found Winston Watkins for nine yards, leaving LSU one yard short of what would have effectively ended the game. Kiffin said, “Thought, ‘All right, hey, we're gonna take some risk here on it,’” before calling timeout and sending the offense back out.
Broadcast cameras caught the tension on his face, and ESPN’s Dusty Dvoracek made his preference clear. “I like a punt in this situation, trust your defense, Kentucky with no timeouts,” he said. “But Lane Kiffin doesn’t always do what I would do.”
This time, Kiffin ended up doing what many would not have expected from him. After LSU showed punt and tried to draw Kentucky offsides, he chose the kick. Grant Chadwick sent it to the Kentucky 18, trusting a defense that had played well enough for most of the night and a Wildcats kicker, Adam Zouagui, who had already missed two fourth-quarter field goals.
Kiffin pointed to the conditions and the situation. “Was gonna go and then, you know, hey, it's into the wind, they've just missed two field goals that way,” he said. “You know, play to our defense … and even if all the bad happens in that, they're probably still making the field goal, so you're still analytically 50% to win in overtime.”
But the punt didn’t solve the problem. Kentucky’s Kenny Minchey then strung together three first downs through the air, including a 19-yard completion to former LSU recruit Kenny Darby that got the Wildcats to the LSU 23. Zouagui then drilled a 33-yarder to tie it 27-27 with 12 seconds left.
That sequence turned a decision Kiffin could live with into the one that would stick. “I really, obviously, am gonna struggle with that it was fourth-and-1,” he said.
LSU had other issues across the night. The Tigers were hurt by first-half penalties, a ground game that averaged just 2.6 yards per carry, Leavitt’s turnovers, and a defense that forced Kentucky to punt only three times, plus one turnover on downs, in 11 series.
Still, the final stretch only sharpened the spotlight on the decision to punt. Kentucky went on to win 35-34 in overtime after the game’s decisive extra-period sequence, including the Wildcats’ choice to go for two and finish it there.
LSU fell to 4-2 overall and 1-2 in the SEC, a record that leaves little margin if the Tigers are going to push toward the College Football Playoff. Kiffin said he won’t let one loss turn into a sweeping judgment of the team he’s trying to build.
“I'm not gonna overreact,” Kiffin said. “We got all these problems, but at the same time, you have so many opportunities to close the game out and finish it.”
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Lane Kiffin confirmed Orgeron is back around the program and spoke about both his health and his presence with the Tigers. Even so, Orgeron is not expected to be on the sideline for the Kentucky game, leaving his return in a sort of middle ground for now: close enough to matter, not quite complete enough to answer every question about how this comeback will look moving forward. [Read more 🡒]