By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports
What does not kill you, makes you stronger, Lane Kiffin said Monday.
The LSU football coach doesn’t believe last Saturday’s 31-13 homefield loss to Alabama sinks the Tigers (6-3, 4-3 in the SEC) out of the College Football Playoff picture. That’s because they can regain credibility right away, this Saturday at home in a 6:30 ABC-televised contest against Texas (7-2, 4-2) and the following Saturday at Tennessee (7-2, 4-2).
Bring it on, Kiffin said Monday during his weekly media session in Baton Rouge.
“This chunk of three right here, once the season got going, you’d say, ‘man, this is three really good teams, maybe three top 12 teams, three of the best defenses in the country.’ They say, ‘man, you really probably don’t want that right in a row.’
“Well, now, because we lost, it’s a good thing, because it gives you a chance right away to play a top 10 team. If you had three teams that weren’t ranked at all, it (would be) a very different road in order to get back to where you want to be from a playoff perspective.”
The Tigers tumbled to 24th in the Associated Press Top 25 Sunday, and will drop from last week’s No. 14 perch in the CFP rankings when those pop out this evening. The Longhorns are ranked seventh in the AP poll and might edge up from eighth in the CFP rankings thanks to Miami’s loss at Notre Dame. Or the Volunteers might leapfrog UT after blasting Kentucky by 28 last weekend.
But obviously, LSU’s edgy status can be bolstered by wins, or cratered with losses – especially those in Tiger Stadium, where until Saturday, Kiffin’s team had been overpowering.
“The loss in Tiger Stadium, yeah, that’s bad,” Kiffin said.
“I feel bad for our fans, for the state,” Kiffin said. “We’re supposed to win those games. We’re certainly not supposed to score 13 points in a game ever.
“That’s not the expectations we have,” he said. “It’s not what we’re used to (recently while he was at Ole Miss) and not what it’s going to be like here.”
LSU players and team personnel got a similar message when they arrived at the Tigers’ facility. Displayed on TV monitors mounted through the building was a 26-line statement, unsigned but presumably from the head coach, challenging “every player and employee.”
“When you win, everybody loves you. When you lose, everybody has an opinion. The media questions you. People who have never done what you do tell you what you can’t do. WELCOME TO LSU and THE DARK SIDE OF BEING A VILLAIN.
“You don’t get to play on the biggest stage and expect everybody to applaud you. You don’t get the privilege of wearing this jersey without carrying the weight that comes with it.
“But here’s what I need you to understand: Their opinions are not your identity. Their criticism doesn’t define you. Their disappointment doesn’t diminish you. And their noise doesn’t get to determine what happens next,” it read, finishing with:
“Don’t run from the embarrassment. Don’t hide from the disappointment. Don’t make excuses for it. Own it. Get better because of it.”
Meanwhile, in unsurprising news that became official Monday, the CFP announced its field will double next year, from 12 teams to 24, after extensive discussions with ESPN and other non-TV entities.
“I think it is what they had to do,” said Kiffin. “They had to when they saw how the nine-game (SEC schedule) would affect the SEC teams in beating each other. I think that went a lot into, ‘We’d better give into the 24.’ ”
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com