Lane Kiffin has spent nearly 10 months in Baton Rouge, and he still talks like a man who’s discovering the place in real time. The restaurants impressed him.
The people did, too. Then came Mardi Gras, then the punishing summer heat.
And on Saturday night, he finally got the part he’d been waiting to experience from the home side of Tiger Stadium.
What he got was a roar, a spectacle and a runaway LSU win.
After a weather delay that pushed things back nearly two hours, No. 11 LSU rolled No.
23 Clemson 51-10 in front of 102,321 at Tiger Stadium, and Kiffin spent Thursday night at his coach’s show unpacking what that atmosphere felt like from the other sideline for once. He had already been in that building five times as a coach before Saturday - twice with Alabama and three times with Ole Miss - and every one of those trips had been as the visitor.
With Alabama, he came away with wins in 2014 and 2016, including a 20-13 overtime game and a 10-0 shutout that was scoreless through three quarters. But his Ole Miss trips were a different story: losses of 53-48 in 2020, 45-20 in 2022 and 29-26 in overtime in 2025.
So when Kiffin got to stand on LSU’s side and feel the place shake, it landed differently.
“For myself, being there five times, but always on the other sideline, I had always pictured, ‘What would that have been like?’ Because you could feel the weight coming down on you on the opposing sideline,” Kiffin said to open his second coach’s show of the season on Thursday night at the Court To Table restaurant near the LSU campus.
Former LSU coach Ed Orgeron, now on Kiffin’s staff, had already told him what to expect.
“Just wait, man, it lifts you up.”
Kiffin said Orgeron was right.
“It really does,” he said. “But I thought it would during the game.
It did it in warm-ups. In warm-ups!
I felt like there’s no way we’re going to lose, because the crowd was just so energetic and so excited for us to play. And it just really fit the players’ excitement.
I was happy that the day went the way it did, because it had been a long eight, nine months that we’d been here of going through a lot to put on a performance for three hours that everybody’d be happy with.”
That buildup, though, wasn’t only about football. Kiffin also stepped around the latest off-field turbulence tied to LSU and the SEC. He did not address the news from Birmingham, Alabama, where the league’s presidents and chancellors met Thursday and announced no reprimand, fine or other punishment for Kiffin or LSU over the recruiting of former NFL roster members after they were cut.
The league’s federal lawsuit against LSU was also delayed on Wednesday by a judge in Birmingham, with no reason given. That came a day after Kiffin had kept tight end Dae’Quan Wright of the Cleveland Browns and defensive tackle Zxavian Harris of the New Orleans Saints off his roster by placing two injured returning LSU players on it to reach the 105-player limit. A scheduled vote Thursday on whether to kick LSU out of the SEC was also canceled.
The situation had been building for weeks, with SEC commissioner Greg Sankey pressing Kiffin not to add Wright and Harris to the roster even after a judge in Baton Rouge ruled they could play for LSU. Now, the two players may be suing the SEC for lost wages tied to NIL deals they had or were about to have with LSU.
For the moment, though, Kiffin’s focus stayed on the scene inside Tiger Stadium - the walk, the noise, the pregame rush and the feeling that the place was working with his team instead of against it.
“It was just a really neat night,” Kiffin said of the win Saturday. “You guys have been on the home side a lot in this stadium.
I haven’t. So to feel that in the warm-ups, ‘Callin’ Baton Rouge (song),’ the whole thing, I was ready for it.”
He tried to keep his team from burning too much energy before kickoff, but that plan went out the window pretty quickly.
“I tried to get them ready for it, ‘Hey, we don’t expend a lot of energy guys. It’s going to be a long game.
Let’s make sure we conserve energy in warm-ups. Let the crowd affect the other team,'” Kiffin said.
“And then all of a sudden, like, I found myself all jacked up. And then I look at the players, and they’re over there yelling with the student section.
So, it was really cool. The whole thing was awesome - the walk, it was like Mardi Gras.
So many people and so much excitement for the game to finally be here. I just can’t imagine a better feeling from a group of fans and a town for what it was like for me and for all the new players.”
In Other News...
Tennessees Top 2027 Commit Just Delivered Another Eye-Popping Statement
David Gabriel Georges keeps finding new ways to underline why Tennessee made him such a priority in the 2027 class. The five-star commit put together a huge night for Baylor School, rushing for 316 yards and five touchdowns in a win over Trinity High School in Kentucky, the kind of performance that turns a routine high school result into a national recruiting talking point.
Georges has now piled up roughly 750 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns this season, adding more evidence that his production matches the buzz around his ranking as one of the top players in the country. Tennessee beat out a competitive field to land his commitment, and nights like this only sharpen the attention around what he could become before he ever arrives in Knoxville. [Read more 🡒]
Tennessee Is Gaining Ground With An In-State Receiver Fans Need To Watch
Tennessees recruiting efforts continue to make noise in the state, and one of the more interesting names to watch is Battle Ground Academy wide receiver Maximus Curry. The 2028 four-star prospect has already started building a relationship with the Volunteers staff, and he said the communication has been a real part of what stands out as his recruitment begins to take shape.
Curry also has visits to other schools on the calendar and is still sorting through how long this process will take, but Tennessee is firmly in the mix as he moves toward bigger decisions. He plans to get to games, keep learning more about the program and make sure the Vols remain part of his final round of choices when the time comes. [Read more 🡒]
Tennessee Is Battling To Keep A Top In-State WR Close
The early pulse of Tennessees 2029 wide receiver board is already taking shape, and Maddox Porter is right in the middle of it. The Battle Ground Academy standout is among the more highly regarded in-state receivers in the class, and his recruitment has started to broaden beyond Knoxville, with Notre Dame, Georgia, Oregon, Ohio State and Alabama all in the mix as he weighs his options.
For Tennessee, the encouraging part is the relationship he has already built with coach Kelsey Pope, plus a planned game-day visit that should give the Vols another chance to make a strong impression. Porter has said he wants to have a commitment or at least a shorter list by the end of his junior year, so the next stretch of visits and evaluations could go a long way in deciding whether Tennessee can keep one of its top local priorities close to home. [Read more 🡒]