LSU’s inability to finish has just about finished the 2026 Tigers’ chances to be remembered fondly by their fans.
Big games? Big disappointments so far.
Lane Kiffin headed down Victory Hill Saturday morning surrounded by superstar power: Shaq, Paul Skenes, Livvy Dunne, Angel Reese, and inexplicably, Kevin Costner, undeniably Hollywood royalty but a non sequitur in this glittering group otherwise tethered to the Tigers.
Nobody reported Kiffin stumbled at the end of the walk. He and his transfer Tigers did a few hours later when it mattered most.
At least at Ole Miss and Kentucky, LSU made some plays in the fourth quarter that put the Rebels and Wildcats on the brink of getting beat.
But presented with those opportunities against Alabama, the Tigers faltered again and again and again and was handed a 31-13 heaping slice of humble pie.
Data analyst Jeff Asher provided this: LSU is the first college team since 2004 – 22 years of major college football – to lose by at least 18 points when it had 450-plus yards and held the opponent under 290 total yards.
Sunday, Kiffin took some solace in that fact.
“You see games where the offense can’t move the ball at all and we’re up here with maybe that many points but you got 180 yards … then you’re saying, well, we got a ton of problems. So in a way, that’s better because it means we got to do better in the red zone. And when those critical fourth downs come, we need to make them.”
Duh.
The Tigers were 13 of 16 on fourth down under Kiffin entering Saturday. Then it was their downfall. LSU was 0-for-4 against Alabama, all but one with the game on the line in the fourth period. Three chances to extend drives, three failures.
“Not getting fourth down is pretty brutal,” said LSU quarterback Sam Leavitt. “Not just from a points standpoint, but from a momentum point of the game.”
Those weren’t the only stalemates. LSU moved inside Alabama’s 40-yard line on its first seven possessions. Read that again. Seven trips past midfield, and into (long) field goal range. The Tigers netted 13 points, two field goals and a touchdown. Otherwise, a missed 56-yard field goal, an interception and two turnovers on downs.
LSU ran 50 plays in Crimson Tide territory.
“That’ll give you a problem on the scoreboard,” said the $13-million-a-year coach.
It became a very costly loss after Alabama took control in the final 15 minutes of what had been a heavyweight fight through three quarters.
“It gives you more hope over time,” said Kiffin, referring to his team outgaining Alabama 457-285 with a 27-13 advantage in first downs, and looking down the road, at seasons to come.
But time isn’t on Kiffin’s side. Not with an impatient fan base and donors whose investment is not getting immediate returns.
The Tigers are teetering on the edge of elimination from the College Football Playoff field, making a last grasp this month for a place among the Power 4 conferences’ Elite 11 who will get the chance to play into next year.
When LSU Kiffin-knapped him from Ole Miss, the expectation was to be in that number.
At 6-3, without a win over a ranked team and staring at playing two straight against Top 10 opponents, this season could go sideways. Suddenly 7-5 is very feasible, pending next Saturday night’s visit from No. 8 Texas and a trip in two weeks to No. 9 Tennessee, which took Kentucky apart like nobody has, other than Alabama.
Flip the forecast to sunny, and wins in those games and an appetizer over Arkansas gets the Tigers to 9-3 with a legit case to be on the CFP table on Selection Sunday.
But Texas and Tennessee figure to be close games, and that’s territory LSU hasn’t been able to handle.
If there’s one area where LSU was consistent Saturday, it was not making the plays to swing things their way in the final quarter.
“I don’t know. I don’t know,” said Kiffin. “We just didn’t.”
And now they probably won’t, unless the Tigers find some MIA fourth-quarter moxie.
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