Lane Kiffin Acknowledges LSU's "Really Critical" Non-Conference Challenge That's "Harder to Survive"

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LSU head coach Lane Kiffin may not be lucky enough to experience the kind of patience usually shown to first-year coaches. Not just because of the drama around his Ole Miss exit and the urgent need to revive the Tigers, but also because his arrival in Baton Rouge coincides with the SEC officially moving to a nine-game schedule, giving his program one of the toughest schedules in the country. Kiffin knows how difficult his job is, and there is no denying that he has to be at his best to survive.

“When you have higher-quality opponents, it’s harder to survive those games where you get some bad calls or the team just doesn’t play really well,” Kiffin told a gatheringat Baton Rouge’s Rotary Club. “Especially with Clemson being the opener, this is as competitive as it gets schedule-wise. That’s why it’s really critical that we develop the depth in our team.”

“Not just the front-line guys, so that we can play well week to week and rotate guys, because it’s an extremely physical schedule, especially if you include the postseason, which is longer than ever, so that you need to be in the best position to win to get to the postseason. When you get there, be in the healthiest shape to make a run in it.”

For Kiffin, there is such a thing as a “blackout” game. He defines it as a game in which a team does not show up or play at the expected level, typically on one side of the ball. And to Kiffin, a program’s success at the end of the season largely depends on how the team survives the blackout game. Of course, a decent team is not expected to experience many of those games, but the nine-game schedule has made more blackout games possible.

PerESPN’s College Football Power Index, the LSU Tigers have the 11th toughest schedule in the country. Unfortunately, there is no breathing space even in their non-conference schedule, as Kiffin and his players have to hit the ground running immediately, playing Dabo Swinney’s Clemson Tigers in their first game of the season at a time when Clemson is also looking to bounce back from their 7-6 record in the 2025 season.

And two weeks after that, Kiffin returns to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium to face Ole Miss in what looks like the most personal rivalry in college football in 2026. Their schedule features other tough games against Texas A&M, Auburn, Alabama, Texas, Tennessee, and Arkansas. There is clearly no room for a blackout game anymore.

A big challenge in Kiffin’s hands would be to get his starting quarterback, Sam Leavitt, ready for the job at hand. The Arizona State transfer is not just a new quarterback at LSU; he joined the program with an injury and was unavailable during spring practice. Regardless,Kiffin assured that “he’s in really good shape, and he’s really been grinding in there to get back faster than they even had him on track before.”

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