LSU may have dodged a serious blow with its top receiver.
After Jackson Harris left Saturday’s 31-0 win over No. 16 Mississippi State with an apparent ankle injury, Lane Kiffin sounded optimistic about the redshirt junior transfer from Hawaii heading into Saturday’s trip to Auburn.
“I think he’ll be fine,” LSU coach Lane Kiffin said of Harris on Sunday afternoon during his weekly teleconference. “Jackson was playing great, really coming along great.
I think our passing game in general really has hit a good stride here lately, and a lot of that was having to do with him. He’s really started to take shorter plays and turn them into big plays and looks really fast and confident.”
Harris exited in the third quarter after leading LSU with 85 receiving yards on six catches and scoring two touchdowns. He’s been the Tigers’ most productive target all season, pacing the team with 456 receiving yards on 27 receptions and five touchdown catches. Among LSU players with more than three catches, he also owns the best yards-per-catch average at 16.9.
Kiffin was less specific about senior edge rusher Princewill Umanmielen, who left in the first quarter Saturday with what appeared to be a concussion. Umanmielen sits atop the LSU sack chart with eight this season.
“I don’t have any updates medically for you,” Kiffin said.
The No. 18 Tigers, now 5-2 overall and 2-2 in the Southeastern Conference, head to Auburn for an 11 a.m. kickoff on ABC at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
It’ll be LSU’s first game there since 2022, when the Tigers won 21-17. The teams also met in 2023, a 48-18 LSU victory.
Auburn enters the matchup after one of the weekend’s biggest results, a 20-17 road upset of No. 1 Georgia.
The win earned the Tigers 61 votes in Sunday’s Associated Press poll, though they remained unranked. LSU moved up four spots to No.
“Auburn is playing really well,” Kiffin said. “They die something a team rarely ever does - win at Georgia.
They have a really good offense and some really good looking players on defense. We’re going to try to get a win before the bye and hopefully get a little better (with injuries).”
After Auburn, LSU will have its open week on Saturday, Oct. 31, before returning home to face No. 13 Alabama on Nov. 7.
In Other News...
LSUs Dominant Win Came With One Performance Fans Will Notice
A 31-0 win usually leaves plenty for LSU fans to enjoy, and the grading breakdown from Pro Football Focus backed up how complete the Tigers looked against Mississippi State. Max Johnson turned in the kind of efficient outing that makes an offense hum, throwing four touchdowns without an interception, while the defense spent most of the afternoon dictating terms and keeping the Bulldogs out of the end zone.
The numbers also pointed to the parts of the performance that still deserve a closer look. Jordan Seaton had a rough day in pass protection, and on the other side of the ball Princewill Umanmielen and Ross stood out as disruptive pass rushers, giving LSU another reminder that the line play on both fronts can shape how far this team goes. Even with Green drawing the lowest defensive grade, his average mark came with two missed tackles, a small blemish on a day when the Tigers otherwise controlled everything. [Read more 🡒]
SEC Poll Controversy Just Took A Turn Florida Fans Will Notice
Auburns upset of then-No. 1 Georgia on the road was the kind of result that usually forces a quick rethink from poll voters, especially when it comes against a rival on its own field. It also came with some historical weight attached, since it was Auburns first road win over Georgia since 2005, a breakthrough that should have had plenty of national attention attached to it.
Instead, the latest AP Poll left Auburn unranked and sitting third in the receiving votes category, a placement that immediately drew a wave of frustrated fan reaction. The response centered on confusion and claims of bias, with plenty of people around the SEC wondering how a road win of that magnitude still wasnt enough to crack the rankings. [Read more 🡒]
Lane Kiffin Reignites A Tense SEC Debate LSU Fans Know Well
Lane Kiffin has never been shy about poking at the edges of SEC tradition, and his latest comments landed on a subject LSU fans know all too well: the changing meaning of a field-storming. Kiffin said the rise of phones has made those scenes different than they used to be, with fans now thinking about recording the moment as much as living it, and he argued that the added attention has made the celebration less safe. He also credited the SEC and some schools for trying to get ahead of the issue, including the leagues $500,000 fine for programs whose fans rush the field.
The discussion comes with a familiar Kiffin twist, since he is also locked in a legal fight with the SEC over roster-eligibility rules for players who previously signed with NFL teams. For LSU supporters, it is another reminder that one of the sports most outspoken coaches is still at the center of debates that go beyond play-calling and into how the league polices its own game. Whether it is field access, player rules or the shifting culture around college football, Kiffin tends to find the fault line and stand right on it. [Read more 🡒]