The A-Team has arrived at LSU.
Tiger fans are gloating and Lane Kiffin is gleeful heading into a relaxing Halloween Saturday.
This weekend, the first-year Tiger coach channeled the cigar-chomping Col. Hannibal Smith, George Peppard’s character in the 1980s hit TV series “The A-Team.”
“I love it when a plan comes together,” was the Colonel’s catchphrase. It was revived when Liam Neeson played Hannibal Smith in the 2010 A-Team movie.
And again by Kiffin on Saturday, though not quite verbatim.
After getting egg in its face with a 35-34 overtime loss to what then seemed a fairly unremarkable Kentucky team, LSU has won two games it was supposed to win, and suddenly Kiffin’s transfer-heavy Tigers are back in the playoff conversation as Top 10-ranked teams have tumbled.
It’s not simply that LSU has walked off the field happy two straight weeks. It’s that LSU justifiably has had considerable swagger in the wake of a 31-0 rout of Mississippi State and Saturday’s 38-17 takedown of an Auburn team fresh off a 27-24 victory at then-No. 1 Georgia.
The Tigers took command in both games with a potent offense and a smothering defense.
Despite Kiffin’s protestations, the shutout win should be footnoted because Hail State’s two most productive players, quarterback Kamario Taylor and running back Fluff Broadwell, were sidelined with injuries, but a goose egg is a goose egg. Star players get hurt, too. Just ask Kiffin, who has lost three of his best (monstrous tight end Tray’Dez Green returned from a month-long rehab and caught a touchdown pass Saturday).
Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium, LSU’s defense shackled the same Auburn quarterback, Byrum Brown, who ran for 116 yards and was the keystone in that upset between the hedges a week earlier. The Tigers sacked him seven times, as he netted just 21 yards on 19 futile runs. His 160 passing yards were basically inconsequential.
Meanwhile, LSU’s offense was as efficient and explosive as the Portal King envisioned as he handed out somewhere near $50 million in NIL contracts to most of the 41 transfers pulling on Purple and Gold for the first time in 2026.
Sam Leavitt was super sharp running the show with a clean sheet (no interceptions) for the second straight Saturday. He posted 387 passing yards and three touchdowns, completing 32-of-45 after going 31-for-38 with 289 and four TDs against Mississippi State. While he didn’t run much two weeks ago, limited by his touchy hamstring, Leavitt managed 54 yards on eight carries Saturday including a 4-yard TD that made it 31-10 Tigers 17 seconds before halftime.
His favorite target, Jackson Harris, had his biggest game since waving Aloha to Hawaii and calling Baton Rouge. He showed the Mahalo spirit as he collected nine catches for 178 yards, notably racing the last 55 yards of a 70-yarder on a skinny post at 4:29 of the second period that put LSU in control 24-10.
The Tigers (6-2, 3-2 in the SEC), now No. 15 in the AP Top 25 but 12th in the Football Writers of America rankings, rang up 552 total yards at Auburn (4-3, 2-3). It was quickly apparent LSU was ending an eight-game freefall in SEC road games, including both losses this year, at Ole Miss (32-24) and UK.
“Yeah, this is where we planned on being,” Kiffin said. “We’d love to be that way every game. But the reality was we knew it was going to be a little slower.
“Now, you’re seeing a lot of receivers going in there and making plays and meshing together,” he said. “Sam was really good today. And we’re kind of where we have been for years in our passing game (at Ole Miss), and so it’s great to have it going here.”
And now. Ahead are Alabama (6-2, 4-2 SEC) and Texas (5-2, 2-2 SEC) back to back, but in Tiger Stadium — maybe with savvy senior linebacker Whit Weeks back on the field after a fractured fibula fixed by surgery a month ago.
“And then we can be the team we put together for the most part,” Kiffin said. “When we have our players, and we don’t screw things up, we’re hard to beat. And we play as well as anyone in the country, which is what this roster was put together to do.”
Which brings to mind another standard from long ago, spoken by Mr. T – who was a cast member in the A-Team but never used the line in 98 episodes. It became his trademark phrase when he played Clubber Lang in the 1982 movie Rocky III.
As LSU takes aim at a November to remember, the Tigers are roaring to go.
“Pity the fool” who sees it differently.
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com