Dan Orlovsky Suggests Lane Kiffin's Reputation Is At Stake vs. Ole Miss
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All eyes will be on Lane Kiffin this Saturday night when he leads No 7 LSU into Oxford to take on No. 8 Ole Miss in a potential playoff preview.
Kiffin shocked the sports world last year when he decided to leave Ole Miss for LSU right before the College Football Playoff. That left the Rebels with no choice but to promote Pete Golding to interim coach. Although he had very little time to prepare, Golding managed to take Kiffin’s squad to the national semifinals before suffering a heartbreaking loss to Miami.
Even though Kiffin had an excellent run at Ole Miss, he knows he’s going to get booed the moment he runs onto the field at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
“I told the players today, ‘Man, you don’t have anything to worry about as far as attention on you all week and everything,’” Kiffin said. “There’s going to be so much attention, hatred, everything on me. You just get to go play.”
During this Friday’s episode of “First Take,” ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky warned Kiffin that he can’t afford to lose to Ole Miss.
Orlovsky claims a loss for LSU would make Kiffin the laughingstock of college football.
“There is no shot that Lane Kiffin can lose this game,” Orlovsky said. “It would be an utter disaster, he would look like a complete joke if they lose this game. He would look like the biggest laughingstock in college football.”
“There is no shot that Lane Kiffin can lose this game. It would be an utter disaster, he would look like a complete joke if they lose this game… he would look like the biggest laughingstock in college football” – Dan Orlovsky pic.twitter.com/i6D2AMQMTX
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 18, 2026
Is Orlovsky right about Kiffin?
Kiffin claims all the pressure will be on Ole Miss this Saturday, not LSU.
“The pressure is on them. We won seven games last year, they won 13,” Kiffin said, via Fox Sports. “They return two Heisman candidates. How often does that happen in the same backfield? We had that [at USC] with Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush.”
There’ll be even more pressure on Ole Miss if LSU’s starting quarterback, Sam Leavitt, can’t play due to an undisclosed injury.
As of this Friday, oddsmakers have Ole Miss as a 1.5-point favorite over LSU. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC.
This story was originally published by The Spun on Sep 18, 2026, where it first appeared in the College Football section. Add The Spun as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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