Lane Kiffin’s Big-Game Problem Has Followed Him to LSU

Lane Kiffin’s first season at LSU took another hit Saturday, when No. 5 Alabama beat the 14th-ranked Tigers 31-13 at Tiger Stadium. The loss dropped LSU to 6-3 and nearly ended its hopes of reaching the College Football Playoff.

It also left Kiffin 15-27 against ranked opponents in his career.

But Kiffin's numbers are even more staggering as the opponents' rankings get higher: 12-26 against the top 20, 10-21 against the top 15 and 6-18 against the top 10.

This season alone, Kiffin's LSU team is 0-3 against teams in the College Football Playoff rankings.

Yet Another Alabama Setback

Oct 3, 2026; Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA; LSU Tigers head coach Lane Kiffin reacts to a play against the McNeese Cowboys during the second half at Tiger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Kiffin fell to 0-6 against Alabama as a head coach. LSU led 13-10 in the third quarter before allowing 21 unanswered points to lose.

The Tigers went 0 for 4 on fourth downs, while Alabama scored touchdowns on all three of its red-zone trips.

LSU gained 457 yards to Alabama's 285 but still lost by 18 points.

Kiffin said the Tigers played “a really bad 18 minutes of football” after taking the lead late in the third quarter.

A third loss is way less than ideal and makes LSU's road to the playoffs even tighter, needing to win out and have other results fall its way if it wants to make the playoffs in Kiffin's first season at LSU.

A Peer's Reason For Firing Is Kiffin's Normal

Oct 11, 2025; University Park, Pennsylvania, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin answers questions from the media following the game against the Northwestern Wildcats at Beaver Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

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Kiffin's mark against ranked opponents is worse than the 17-29 mark James Franklin posted at Penn State, where he was fired last season for failing to win the big games.

Penn State fired Franklin in October, and athletic director Pat Kraft said his record in big games played a role in the decision.

Kiffin, by stark contrast, is in the first year of a seven-year, $91 million contract and has a worse record.

Franklin was 1-18 against top-10 Big Ten opponents in conference games, and he also lost 15 consecutive games against top-six opponents.

Penn State said it wanted new leadership to advance the program toward “Big Ten and national championships.”

That's all, despite Franklin otherwise going 104-45 and reaching the 2024 College Football Playoff semifinals.

He has since taken over at Virginia Tech.

What’s Left For Kiffin

Kiffin’s defenders point to a 10-10 record against ranked teams in his six seasons at Ole Miss. Only 10 Power Four coaches entered this season with a .500 or better career mark against Top 25 teams.

LSU’s other ranked losses this season came at Ole Miss, 32-24, in Kiffin’s return to Oxford, and by a point at Kentucky. The Wildcats are now ranked No. 6.

LSU hosts No. 7 Texas on Nov. 14 and visits No. 13 Tennessee on Nov. 21. LSU needs to win those games to keep any form of its playoff hopes alive. But a win and a loss across those two games will end the Tigers' playoff hopes for good and move LSU to a 1-4 mark against ranked opponents.

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