Lane Kiffin is officially the biggest disappointment in college football, and it’s not even close. LSU’s brutal loss to Texas on Saturday sealed their fate, crashing them out of the College Football Playoff conversation and cementing Kiffin as the most-overrated and underperforming coach we’ve seen since 2019 Oklahoma, except at least *they* made the CFP. LSU is now looking at a potential Citrus Bowl invite if they’re lucky, and frankly, they earned it.
LSU’s Costly Bet on Kiffin Goes Sideways
Eleven months ago, LSU made a massive mess to bring Kiffin in. He ditched a team that was a lock for its first CFP invitation to grab a salary that puts him right up there with guys like Georgia’s Kirby Smart and Indiana’s Curt Cignetti. We’re talking one of the highest-paid coaches in the sport. And it wasn’t just his salary, the Tigers’ administration and donors opened the checkbook for a roster widely recognized as the richest in college football. The absolute bare minimum expectation for Kiffin in Year 1? Make the College Football Playoff. Fast forward to eleven days before Thanksgiving, and LSU is 3-4 in the SEC standings, completely out of the CFP picture after a fourth loss to a ranked opponent. This team is, at best, an eight-win squad. That’s what $13 million gets you, LSU, when you hand it to Kiffin. Yikes.
Elsewhere Around the Nation: Liberty Rises, Others Stumble
While LSU implodes, other teams are making moves, for better or worse. My latest top-25 rankings saw SMU, South Carolina, and New Mexico drop off the list, replaced by one returner and two new faces. Liberty is proving they belong, coming off a 28-23 win against Middle Tennessee. Their only loss this season was way back in their opener against James Madison, making them, along with Boise State, the last one-loss team left in the Group of Six. That’s no small feat. Through Week 11, Liberty boasts a killer +1.55 net yards per play differential, gaining 6.38 yards per play while allowing just 4.83, ranking them 13th in the FBS. They’re still long shots for the CFP at +2700, and even longer for a national title at +250000, but hey, they’re still fighting. Next up, they face Western Kentucky.
Meanwhile, Houston took a brutal 42-32 loss to Colorado, a game they’ll surely circle as the moment everything fell apart. Up until that point, their losses were to the Big 12’s elite, but that Folsom Field trip to Boulder showed them what fatigue can do. They gave up a staggering 249 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns to Colorado, the most they’ve allowed in three seasons under Willie Fritz, with Colorado averaging 6.38 yards per carry. That means they’re now on the outside looking in for the conference title game and, yep, the CFP. Houston heads to West Virginia next week. Mizzou also had a rough one, getting absolutely smashed 48-21 by Georgia. That game was never close, which is a real shame because a win there could have blown open the SEC and put them right back in the CFP conversation with a chance to even host a home game. Now, that dream’s over. They’ll host Kentucky next.
Next week, Liberty aims to keep that one-loss dream alive against Western Kentucky, while Houston and Mizzou look to pick up the pieces and salvage something from their seasons on the road at West Virginia and at home against Kentucky, respectively. For LSU? Well, maybe the Citrus Bowl still calls. We’ll be watching to see if any of these teams can pull off a late-season miracle.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Fox Sports.
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