Tailgating with the Pokes
August 2026
Nonprofit Impact: McNeese Alumni Association
August 2026
by Matt Dye
The moves have been made. The wait is over.
Gone is Brian Kelly, done with unceremoniously after a blowout home loss, 49-25, last season against Texas A&M.
After some wranglings, the Tigers pulled in the most hated man in football, Lane Kiffin, to lead them, stealing him from Ole Miss right on the eve of the college football playoffs.
Of course, Kiffin is only the most hated man in football if he’s not on your team. In Baton Rouge, he’s been welcomed with a coronation ceremony before even stepping foot in Death Valley. Hopes are high, perhaps even higher than before that fabled 2019 season.
Kiffin wasted no time putting his stamp on the Tigers, bringing in 41 from the transfer portal to construct his team, allowing for competition at every level. He brought in four transfer portal quarterbacks alone. Leading that pack is Sam Leavitt, formerly of Arizona State, and the presumed starter for Week 1 against Clemson.
It will be interesting to see how fast Leavitt develops a rapport with a new set of receivers. LSU has long been referred to as Wide Receiver U, and they hope to continue that with transfer players such as Jayce Brown from Kansas State and Eugene Wilson III from Florida. Another interesting match-up is Trey’Dez Green at tight end. A 6’7” beast, he could create a lot of mismatches and become Leavitt’s go-to safety valve.
LSU’s running game is a little more suspect, but Harlem Berry and Caden Durham are two returning Tigers that Kiffin’s offense will lean on when it has to, but really, this is going to be an air raid offense.
On defense, Kiffin was able to keep defensive coordinator Blake Baker, who put together a top 15 scoring defense last season despite having an anemic offense. And the transfer portal with pass rushers such as Princewill Umanmielen coming with Kiffin from Ole Miss and Jordan Ross from Tennessee only makes this defense that much more dangerous.
And that’s not even discussing the secondary, which brings back Tamarcus Cooley and pairs him with Ty Benefield of Boise State.
All the ingredients are in the pudding for Kiffin to recreate the magic he was brewing in Oxford last season.
The schedule even seems to be on the Tigers side. After opening the season at home against Clemson, they host La. Tech before going to Ole Miss for a game that everyone in the college football world will have circled.
Assuming LSU can get through the Ole Miss revenge game, they could be 3-0 hosting a Texas A&M team that the Tigers will be looking for some redemption from.
Then the first week of October is nearly a state holiday, as LSU hosts McNeese.
After that, it’s largely smooth sailing, as much as smooth sailing can be in the SEC, with LSU’s biggest expected games against Alabama and Texas both at home, albeit back-to-back.
Then a tough road game against Tennessee in Knoxville and another road game against the Razorbacks will end the season, but by that point, we should know what kind of team that Lane Kiffin has put together, and all hopes will likely be for the college football playoffs.
Prediction: 11-1, College Football Playoff Semi-Final
