Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
A few weeks ago, I suggested a number of possible sports soap opera names for the ongoing drama involving this year’s LSU football program.
Possible names floated included “Search for Tomorrow’s Coach”, “Lane – Is a Many Spendored Thing”, and “The Young and the Ruthless.”
One title, though, stood out among the others.
I chose “As the Tigers Turn” as the winner. It seems to fit all of the wild and crazy stories which are surrounding this season’s Bayou Bengals from Baton Rouge.
We’ve got another tasty dish of LSU jambalaya ready to serve-up, che’re.
It’s time to roll this show’s opening credits!
In our last episode…
Two weeks ago, LSU had not played its first college football game of the season.
The opening game against long-time ACC powerhouse Clemson was coming up on Saturday, September 5 in LSU’s Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge on national television.
Former Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin was taking the field that night for the first time as LSU’s new coach. Ex-LSU coach Brian Kelly was long gone after receiving his expensive $54 million contract payout to vamoose.
Lane Kiffin’s first game as coach of LSU was enough drama for Tigers fans. The NCAA then inadvertently created some legal issues which added even more suspense to LSU’s opening game of the football season.
The NCAA (it’s OK to boo the villain here) fumbled the ball again.
They waited until June to implement a new rule affecting the eligibility of college athletes. The overseer of college sports had previously allowed a maximum of four years of athletic eligibility.
A June, 2026 NCAA rule gives athletes five years of college eligibility as long as it is completed within five years after leaving high school. The previous rule had hundreds of athletes petitioning the NCAA for a fifth or sixth year of athletic eligibility due to injuries. medical issues, and/or other extenuating circumstances.
A small group of athletes who had utilized their four years of college eligibility over four consecutive years filed a lawsuit in a Louisiana state court.
They wanted the right to return to play a fifth year of college football this fall if they were released by an NFL team during the summer preseason.
Two of those players in the lawsuit just happened to be former Ole Miss players who played for coach Lane Kiffin in 2025.
The Southeastern Conference was furious that LSU was (perhaps) going to sign and play some ex-professional athletes.
SEC school presidents joined with Big Ten, ACC, and Big 12 Conferences to prohibit member schools from playing any former professional athletes beginning this fall.
As you may have heard, the Louisiana state court judge held a hearing two days prior to the LSU/Clemson game – in his Baton Rouge courtroom, of course.
Making matters worse, the SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey (it’s OK to boo or cheer here – your preference) was required to fly to Baton Rouge to testify in the matter. After three hours on the witness stand, Commissioner Sankey left town and later learned that the judge had ruled in favor of the players.
Can you imagine how “hot” Commissioner Sankey might have been after learning that?
Would LSU actually go against the wishes of the SEC Commissioner and the 15 other university presidents and play a couple of college players who earned $2,000/week for several weeks in an NFL preseason camp?
Would the SEC dare to either suspend LSU coach Lane Kiffin for six games and/or assess a $50 million penalty on the Tigers?
Worst of all, would the SEC expel one of its original founding members and toss LSU completely out of the conference?
Act 2: LSU did not add any pro players, and the SEC backed down on its threats
The LSU Tigers had legal clearance to add those briefly-employed ex-NFL players. They purposefully chose not to. LSU went on to crush Clemson 51-10 in their season opener without the legally-cleared-to-play “pro” players.
Early the following week, LSU added two final players to complete its roster. Neither name was one of the so-called “pro” players.
It’s likely that the two young men who came from the NFL summer camps will receive their promised NIL payments from LSU without ever playing a down of football this season.
We can only hope these gentlemen will be as successful in the classroom in Baton Rouge this fall.
Taking a cue from LSU’s more positive and conciliatory actions, the league’s presidents also met again last week. The angry mob of academic leaders finally put down their pitchforks and torches.
Instead, they decided to slow things down and re-think expelling one of the SEC’s most powerful brand names called LSU.
As predicted here, cooler heads seem to have prevailed on both sides. Somewhere, ESPN is likely to have intervened to remind all parties that the SEC and LSU are stronger with each other.
LSU played its second game of the season last Saturday night and defeated a tough Louisiana Tech Bulldogs squad 45-14.
Act 3 – Ole Miss began a full-scale offensive against LSU ahead of Saturday’s game
The date which Ole Miss fans (and, more recently, LSU haters) have marked on their calendars finally arrives Saturday in Oxford.
At about 6:45PM CDT this Saturday night, Coach Lane Kiffin is expected to return to the field at Ole Miss!
The man who left his 11-1 squad last season to take the open job at LSU will be greeted with a deafening cacophony of booing and R-rated jeers from Ole Miss fans.
ESPN will (of course) be there to promote this hatred serenade with its Saturday morning College GameDay program. For once, coach Nick Saban will not be the primary object of negative attention from Rebels football fans.
Ole Miss and LSU are both 2-0. The Tigers are ranked #7 and Ole Miss #8 this week.
On Monday, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry suggested (jokingly, perhaps) that LSU Coach Lane Kiffin and his Tigers football team may need National Guard protection from any Ole Miss fans harboring bad intentions.
Ole Miss officials promise that there will be ample security on hand before, during, and after this game to keep the peace.
I joked with a long-time friend yesterday that, perhaps, Coach Kiffin and the entire LSU coaching staff should don “ZZ Top” disguises Saturday night.
Having more than a dozen coaches wearing long overcoats and fake beards with the name “Kiffin” on the back would be a good way to diffuse all of the hate and turn it into laughter.
Another idea would be for Lane Kiffin to hire a lookalike (carrying a lot of insurance) to stand on the sidelines next to several very large Louisiana state troopers. Meanwhile, the actual coach Kiffin could sit in an undisclosed location in the press box to oversee the game for LSU.
Act 4 – General Hospital – Former Ole Miss and LSU coach Ed Orgeron’s health update
Coach “O” (spelled “Eaux” in Louisiana) has been hired as the head football coach and fired by both Ole Miss (2005-2007) and LSU (2016-2021).
The 65-year old Ed Orgeron and current LSU coach Lane Kiffin are longtime friends. They coached together at the University of Tennessee and Southern Cal.
Kiffin hired his Louisiana-born and bred coaching friend to become a special assistant to recruiting and defense at LSU earlier this year. Coach “O” has always been one of college football’s top recruiters – especially within the state of Louisiana.
Monday’s LSU press conference featured Coach Kiffin fielding a reporter’s question as to whether Ed Orgeron had been away from the team due to a undisclosed medical issue.
Lane Kiffin danced around the question a little bit and finally said, “He’s doing better. It was little scary. He’s still not all the way back. He just means a lot to me. We’ve been through a lot.”
Late Tuesday, a long-time New Orleans-area media personality posted on his X.com account that Ed Orgeron had been hospitalized recently for sepsis related to an infection. His report confirmed that the coach was now out of the hospital and at home.
A friend of mine died a few years ago from a similar (and extremely serious) condition.
Our prayers are with Coach Orgeron to make a full recovery soon!
Geaux Tigah!
Act 5 – Nuts and bolts, two former Ole Miss players just got sued!
Finally, Tuesday’s LSU football practice concluded with a couple of its Ole Miss transfer players being served lawsuits demanding repayment of money owed to their former school.
Defensive tackle Princewell Umanmeilen and offensive lineman Devin Harper hit the transfer portal to join Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin down at LSU. Unfortunately, both players had already signed NIL agreements with Ole Miss covering this 2026 football season with the combined amount totaling nearly $1 million.
Ole Miss claims that previous attempts over the past few months to get repayment have failed. LSU officials responded that any payments due Ole Miss from the two transfers players were not the responsibility of their new school.
The timing of being served with a lawsuit during game week was not a coincidence.
Expect these two new LSU football players to be highly motivated to bring a different form of payback to Ole Miss come Saturday night.
Kick-off is at 6:45PM this Saturday night on ABC.
Get your popcorn ready!
And come back soon for another episode of…”As the Tigers Turn!”