By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports
BATON ROUGE – There were no stumbles to nitpick at Lane Kiffin’s Monday media session, not following as dominant a win as LSU has recorded since the Tigers wore leather helmets.
Saturday night’s 63-14 rout of Southland Conference member McNeese was more lopsided than on the scoreboard. The Tigers set school offensive records and played second- and third-teamers after a 35-0 halftime lead.
The first-year coach didn’t face a barrage of questions about shortcomings. He knows what his Tigers are facing, a barrage of Southeastern Conference games that will test them much more than all four of their wins have.
They begin Saturday night at No. 25 Kentucky, at 4-1 off to its best five-game record since Paul “Bear” Bryant was coaching a Wildcats team loaded with World War II veterans and future NFL great George Blanda.
With the SEC hierarchy taking shape at this stage of the 12-game season, Kiffin sees LSU (4-1) perched on the verge of the league’s best. He was asked to assess the Tigers’ status heading into seven conference games.
“I think I’d feel really good if it weren’t for the injuries,” he said.
Those would be the long-term consequences of losing defensive back Dashawn Spears (knee, done for the season) and the two Tigers awarded the prize No. 7 jerseys for their leadership and value, linebacker Whit Weeks (broken leg) and tight end Trey’Dez Green (knee sprain). Monday, Kiffin said both could be back during the season but didn’t offer any timetables, except to say Green was out of a knee brace.
Nobody thought he was bemoaning the touchy hamstring of quarterback Sam Leavitt. He played a half against McNeese, restricted to handing off and staying in the pocket, but steered the offense to 20 first downs and 352 yards in two quarters against the outmanned Cowboys.
Leavitt’s status is a very real factor for LSU at Kentucky. Kiffin discussed how the quarterback is being treated by the team’s sports medicine staff, and factors that go into his workload at practice, but didn’t elaborate on what range of capabilities he expects from Leavitt on game night.
Without losing Green, Spears and Weeks, Kiffin said, “I think I’d feel really good. But still feel good. A lot of times, we’ve played as well as anybody in the country.
“Our first defense has given up one touchdown in the second half all season long with losing two players who I think were on pace to be All-Americans. Having those guys as you go on the road and into the meat of the schedule, I’d feel really great about our program.
“And I feel great about the future,” Kiffin said. “I know what that is if we put together this team in that short amount of time without any background with them. I know what next year and the year after will look like. And that has nothing to do with how this season’s going.
“I just know that it’s a great combination of all these things coming together. That’s why we came here. Hopefully, Whit and Trey’Dez will be back at some point. That will make us feel a lot better.”
Kiffin said he thought the Tigers’ only loss, 32-24 at Ole Miss, provided his team with experience that could be beneficial at UK.
“To go on the road like last time at night in that environment will help. The first time you go into a road hostile environment is the first time. And also I just hope that they learn that it doesn’t matter how the first and second quarters go. You’ve still got to play the game and win the game in the fourth quarter, which we had a bunch of opportunities to and didn’t (at Ole Miss).”
The 6 p.m. contest Saturday will air on ESPN. The Tigers opened the week as 10.5 point favorites over the Wildcats, who had to overcome a 17-0 deficit last Saturday at South Carolina to win 35-34 on a two-point conversion.
Both teams played Texas A&M in successive weeks. Kentucky upset the Aggies 31-21 in College Station before LSU blasted them 35-6 in Baton Rouge.
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com