LSU was supposed to be distracted. Instead, it looked unstoppable | Opinion
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BATON ROUGE, LA – We see drama. We hear noise.
We witnessed the SEC and LSU go to war with one another.
To hear LSU’s players tell it, they didn’t pay much attention to the battle.
“This team’s not distracted at all,” LSU linebacker Whit Weeks said.
You might have wondered in the run-up to this season opener how that could be true, but after No. 13 LSU dismantled No. 23 Clemson, 51-10, it’s impossible to argue with Weeks.
So, is the battle finished, or just on pause?
Will LSU drop this idea of adding NFL castoffs to its roster, or will it keep pushing the envelope?
Lane Kiffin wouldn’t say.
“I’m not getting into it,” LSU’s coach said after the game. “This night was awesome for our fans, and that shouldn’t be the storyline, but I appreciate the question.”
Lane Kiffin: LSU not distracted by drama
Kiffin more greatly appreciated that his team trounced Clemson. Kiffin’s idea for an NFL-to-LSU transfer portal became fodder for a court case here, and the SEC then filed a countersuit in federal court. If LSU had lost this game, Kiffin knows what the narrative would've been: That his actions resulted in his team being too distracted to handle little ol’ Clemson. Instead, the story became LSU's rout and Dabo Swinney's program going belly up.
“I was trying to say it during the week, I don’t think that does anything to” distract the players,” Kiffin said, but “I’m glad we played well, because otherwise it would’ve been the whole story.”
Kiffin magnetizes attention and drama, and yet for a full calendar year, his teams seem immune to any adverse effects.
If anything, Kiffin and his players seem to feed off of it.
A year ago, while Kiffin coached Mississippi, his Rebels won five straight while their coach flirted with multiple suitors and braced for a fight with his bosses about whether he could accept a new job and still coach his old team in the playoff.
All that fuss would’ve derailed a different team. Ole Miss grew stronger amid the noise.
New team, same result.
More drama begets a blowout win.
How does Kiffin churn out wins amid the fury?
“I think it’s overrated,” Kiffin said, of the effects of the theater unfolding outside of a program. “I’m not saying I do a great job of controlling it. I just, I think it’s overrated.”
He makes no effort to tamp it down, either.
At halftime of this rout, Kiffin quipped during a televised interview with ABC: “Imagine if we had pro players."
He couldn’t resist making the joke.
“There you go. You got another line,” Kiffin said.
Lane Kiffin has the magic touch lately
Another quip, and another win, for a coach who’s 12-1 since the start of last season despite stirring up as much attention, hijinks and blowback as he ever has in a career filled with attention, hijinks and blowback.
“Nobody talks about the noise going on outside this building,” Weeks said.
We would’ve found that quote preposterous if the score had been flipped, but after LSU outgained its opponent by nearly 500 yards, it’s hard to dispute it.
“We really have done an incredible job of blocking it out,” said transfer quarterback Sam Leavitt, who put on a show in his first start with LSU. “It’s really not even been a thought process in the building. … We come to work, we put our heads down, and we grind.”
It wasn't always this tidy for Kiffin. Two years ago, Ole Miss wilted in losses to Kentucky and Florida, squandering a roster with playoff capabilities. The Rebels lost four straight games to end the 2022 season, while Kiffin seriously debated leaving for the Auburn job.
Since the start of last year, though, Kiffin turned into Teflon. The drama associated with him just sort of slides off his teams' backs.
LSU delivers '51-0 run' to rout Clemson
LSU turned the ball over on the second play of the game. Clemson converted the takeaway into a field goal.
Upset alert? Get real.
LSU put the knockout punch on Clemson’s kisser before the first quarter even ended.
“You go on a 51-0 run,” Kiffin said.
How’s that for drama?
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's senior national college football columnist. Listen to his podcast, "College Football Unfiltered." Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: LSU was supposed to be distracted. Instead, it looked unstoppable | Opinion
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