Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
My dearly departed Mom was a big fan of daytime television soap operas.
She got up early each morning and made breakfast for us four boys. Then she sent us off to school and said goodbye to Dad as he drove downtown to work at his retail job.
Mom still had a sink full of the morning dishes plus loads of yesterday’s dirty clothes to wash, hang out to dry, and, later, iron. My 4’10” mother stayed quite busy but found a way to keep up with her friends on weekdays.
She spent a portion of her day watching a few cheesy daytime television soap operas on her little black-and-white portable television.
Mom often referred to these characters (mostly the good characters) as her “friends.”
Declining ratings and increased production costs has seen a reduction in several long-time television “friends” which Mom once viewed.
Today, sports fans are glued to a new fast moving soap opera based in Baton Rouge!
There is less than one week before the LSU Tigers kick-off the 2026 football season against the ACC’s Clemson Tigers on Saturday night (6:30PM CDT on ABC) in Baton Rouge. Both teams’ head coaches have a lot riding on making a good first impression.
Clemson’s Dabo Swinney is under growing pressure after a few disappointing (by recent Clemson standards) seasons. The two-time national championship coach has been able to quell most of the “Fire the coach!” grumblings by reminding the press how much they all loved him a few years ago. Coach Swinney is officially on the hot seat this season.
LSU’s new head football coach and his program have been making a lot of headlines since the end of last season. Coach Lane Kiffin (whether purposeful or not) is a human headline machine. Kiffin’s on-field success and frequent job changes have kept him in the media spotlight.
Tigers fans care only whether Kiffin can mastermind a way to help LSU capture its fifth national title in college football. Coach Kiffin quickly hit the ground running with his new job. LSU’s new coach is trying to do everything possible to make the championship dream happen for himself and the Tigers faithful.
The sports media has been working 24/7 jumping aboard the “Lane Train” as news out of Baton Rouge continues to play like a never-ending LSU-based soap opera.
“As the Tigers Turn”
Has it really been seven years since the 2019 LSU Tigers football team obliterated all comers in a 15-0 national championship season?
Much has changed since Louisiana’s own Ed Orgeron ruled the bayous as the head football coach of LSU’s fourth national champions of college football.
Heisman quarterback Joe Burrow, wide receivers Justin Jefferson and Ja’Marr Chase have become highly paid NFL stars.
Other LSU players from that team are also enjoying nice NFL paychecks today.
That 2019 championship season came during the early days of the NCAA’s infamous Transfer Portal. When coupled with the now-legal (but not in its intended form) Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL), a virtual Wild West Show of athletes has been taking place as more players enter and leave programs annually.
LSU head coach Ed Orgeron struggled during the ensuing years.
LSU’s record slipped to 5-5 in the 2020 COVID-plagued season and fell to 6-7 in 2021.
The likable but sometimes unfocused Coach O was shown the door following the 2021 season. Orgeron laughed all the way to the bank to deposit his $17 million going away present courtesy of the wealthy LSU athletic supporters.
“Search for Tomorrow”’s Coach
LSU turned to Notre Dame football coach Brian Kelly beginning in 2022. The veteran coach immediately instilled more discipline to his football team. Kelly’s 10-4 opening season in 2022 gave LSU fans a glimmer of hope for the future. It was followed by 10-3 in 2023 and 9-4 in 2024.
Brian Kelly set lofty expectations for LSU in 2025. However, he pigeonholed problems behind the scenes (especially information about lingering injury issues with LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier). After posting a modest 3-5 SEC mark and a 7-6 overall record, LSU wrote a $54 million exit check for Brian Kelly to skedaddle after last fall.
Lane – is a Many Splendored Thing
Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin has a history of short stays with his former employers. The Rebels coach remained in Oxford for six years (a personal record!) before Kiffin shocked his team and the entire state of Mississippi by accepting the top job at SEC rival LSU.
The 2025 Rebels had just finished their best regular season ever (11-1). They were heading into the College Football Playoffs for the first time in school history. That’s when their coach admitted that he had accepted the vacant LSU job.
Upon arriving in Baton Rouge, Lane Kiffin immediately got to work on upgrading LSU’s football talent – especially on offense. He went dialing for dollars utilizing the NCAA transfer portal combined with a very large ($40+ million) wallet filled with NIL bucks to sign dozens of new players.
In fact, Coach Kiffin just signed a few additional players over the past week which has created a new chapter to our growing soap opera story.
The Young and the…Ruthless?
Coach Lane Kiffin is just 51 years of age. He exudes a boyish twinkle in his eyes along the sidelines as he watches his football team confound opponents with yet another timely and well-conceived offensive play call.
LSU’s new head football coach was hired to transform the Tigers’ offense into the upper echelon of the SEC. The Tigers’ defense has been expected to remain top caliber again this season.
Saturday night’s first game in the Coach Lane Kiffin era will feature least 44 new LSU players taking the field against Clemson. This year’s LSU football team looks like an assemblage of Frankenstein-styled parts.
The multitude of new players have been bought and paid for by LSU’s $13 million/year mad scientist/coach Lane Kiffin.
You’re going to need time to learn the names of your new players, LSU fans!
You will find a new transfer quarterback #10 Sam Leavitt (Arizona State) tossing passes downfield to new wide receivers #3 Eugene Wilson III (Florida) and #4 Jackson Harris (Hawaii).
Holy courtroom drama, Batman! The SEC lawyers are joining the action in Baton Rouge on Thursday
LSU made more national news last week by signing several former college football players recently cut by their NFL employers during the preseason.
This spring, the NCAA ruled that, beginning this fall, college athletes will be granted five years of athletics eligibility over a five year period following their high school graduation.
However, a group of 16 former college football players (who had exhausted all four of their years of eligibility under the previous NCAA standard) filed a lawsuit in Louisiana. They demanded the right to play a fifth season of college football this fall should their NFL employers release them following the final preseason games.
One of those players is former LSU linebacker Jack Pyburn.
He played at the University of Florida for three years but transferred to Baton Rouge for his final year in 2025. Pyburn was signed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers but has been released after the final preseason roster cuts. He now wants to return to play football at LSU this fall.
So do former Ole Miss tight end Dae’Quon Wright and defensive lineman Zxavian Harris, among others. They were former standouts for coach Lane Kiffin last season in Oxford.
Like Jack Pyburn, the two former Ole Miss players signed NFL contracts but have been cut by their teams. They could quickly learn the playbook of their former coach – now at LSU.
The SEC is furious about the new LSU football coach’s decision to add several former college players who signed and participated with professional teams over the summer.
Last week, the Southeastern Conference joined hands with the ACC, Big Ten, and Big 12 Conferences in a rare move of solidarity.
The four major college football conferences want to prohibit former players from the freshman class of 2022 from returning to school this fall to play football after they signed contracts to play for a professional sports league team.
The ramifications for LSU could be massive.
The SEC’s proposed punishment could involve suspending coach Lane Kiffin for half of the current season. Worse, LSU’s athletics program could be fined 50% of its $200 million annual athletics budget.
Ouch.
On Sunday, the SEC announced that the conference plans to abide with the court’s current decision (allowing the former NFL players to participate). However, an additional hearing of this matter will occur this Thursday in the judge’s courtroom in Baton Rouge.
The SEC has retained a powerful legal concern based in New Orleans to vigorously attempt to get the judge to reverse positions in this matter on Thursday.
Wow! This could become a high drama legal showdown taking place just two days before LSU hosts Clemson on national television Saturday night in Baton Rouge.
Meanwhile, the remainder of the SEC head coaches and administrators are fuming mad. They are pounding the war drums and sound as if they are ready to toss LSU completely out of the SEC if they don’t forget about playing those ex-pro athletes this fall.
Louisiana State University has been part of the Southeastern Conference since its founding in 1932.
I can picture thousands of hands waving “Pick me, SEC!” in North Carolina, Clemson, and Florida State today!
Before ACC fans of those schools get too giddy, keep in mind that Disney’s ESPN and ABC own the television rights to SEC football.
If LSU were to (shudder) get booted from the SEC over this issue, the Big Ten or the Big 12 Conference (both televised by competitor FOX Sports) would quickly make an offer to the Tigers.
LSU might even consider going independent and negotiate its own national television contract like Notre Dame. Why share the loot when you can keep it all for yourself, right?
I fully expect ESPN/ABC to intervene to tamp down the growing SEC anger in short order.
This year’s LSU “Black Hat” Tigers will the hottest college football commodity on television. ESPN cannot afford to lose LSU anytime soon.
A good TV soap opera usually contains just a few small weekly plot twists.
By contrast, this new sports soap opera based in Baton Rouge has been making-up its own script from week to week. Who knows where all of this will lead next?
Our next episode of “As the Tigers Turn!” should be a dandy. Stay tuned!