BATON ROUGE — By the time LSU head coach Lane Kiffin jogged off the field of Tiger Stadium Saturday night, most of the 102,000 fans who had come to see his debut had left.
That wasn’t because they were disappointed. Quite the opposite: LSU’s smackdown of Clemson in Death Valley ended with a final score of 51–10. And after more than 12 hours of campus festivities and a two-hour rain delay, Baton Rouge was ready for a nightcap and a blissful, satisfied sleep.
LSU came into the matchup ranked No. 11, and was a double-digit favorite against Dabo Swinney’s squad. Still, the win was less a relief (and possibly even an early sign of vindication) for those who chose to hire Kiffin despite his theatrics—and especially now, with his role in the legal feud that has taken over the past week in college sports.
“I’m glad we played well,” a candid Kiffin told reporters postgame. “Because if we didn’t, it would be the whole story.”
After a change in NCAA policy in June, a group of players sued for a fifth year of eligibility, which caused uproar because some had signed NFL contracts and/or appeared on NFL preseason rosters. After LSU tried to sign two of them in late August, the SEC (and other conferences) implemented rules banning players with this type of professional experience, and SEC officials discussed much harsher penalties. Both LSU and the players dug in, winning an injunction during a Baton Rouge court hearing Thursday that protected them. But the Tigers still face more looming threats and a new federal lawsuit filed by the SEC against LSU—which named Kiffin himself as a defendant.
On Friday night, Kiffin opted not to roster the players, telling fans Saturday he was concerned about potential penalties that could befall LSU.
Still, LSU’s beatdown of Clemson in Death Valley was anything but normal (and that’s not including the biblical downpour). Tiger Stadium was at max capacity with attendance announced at 102,321; the media presence was overflowing, with 900 credentials issued and not a seat open in the press box.
“Felt like I was back at Mardi Gras,” Kiffin said of his walk into the stadium, flanked by tailgaters and fans with multiple celebrities in tow. “That’s the LSU swagger.”
In the brief legal detente for the game, the web of elected officials ensnared in the fight took a break for the night, too. South Carolina attorney general Alan Wilson and Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, who had been on opposite sides of the LSU fight earlier in the week, posed for a photo together.
On both sides of the ball were players who had earned one more year of eligibility through lawsuits. One of them, LSU’s Junior Tuihalamaka, was one of the plaintiffs in the fated Louisiana state court case (though he did not have any NFL preseason participation).
Within the first minute of regulation, things looked shaky for LSU as quarterback Sam Leavitt threw an interception during the second play of the first drive. But Kiffin’s Tigers bounced back quickly: a rough-and-tumble, 12-play, 89-yard touchdown drive, then a flashy interception and 30-yard run for a touchdown. That was all before the second quarter even began.
At halftime, Kiffin twisted the knife. “Imagine if we had pro players,” he said while walking away from an interview with ESPN’s Holly Rowe.
The beatdown continued throughout the night, with LSU almost doubling its score in the second half. Kiffin’s disposition was jovial.
In the postgame press conference, he addressed what others called “distractions” for the players, from how he left Ole Miss during last year’s CFP to the professional-player situation. All day, Kiffin has been preaching his own theory about how players aren’t as distracted by the storylines as the outside believes. “I think it’s overrated,” he said.
Kiffin also reflected about that joke he made at halftime. His thought process? “Everybody hates you,” Kiffin said. “They can’t hate you that much more. There you go. You got another line.”
