LSU is hoping that Lane Kiffin can bring the same magic to the Tigers as he did with Ole Miss last year.
Meanwhile, Kiffin’s equation with the Rebels continues to hit a new low with each passing day.
Lane Kiffin, LSU Get Warning from Tigers Legend
Recently, LSU Hall of Famer Rohan Davey made it clear that he believes it is time for Kiffin and everyone at LSU to stop talking about Ole Miss and focus on the future instead.
“Leave the disgruntled girl in the back, leave her where she is,” Davey said in an interview with WAFB. “You understand she is in the back, in the rearview, for a reason. My aunt always told me that she was there in the back for a reason, baby. Whether you left your job, your girl, your friends, they’re in the rearview for a reason.
“It ain’t gonna do us no good to keep bringing them back up talking about them. We own bigger and better things. We’re on to getting ready to play football and getting in the playoffs, and that should be our sole focus.”
After leading Ole Miss to the College Football Playoff in the 2025 season, Kiffin accepted the LSU job and brought several coaches and recruits with him to Baton Rouge. That move alone frustrated plenty of Rebels fans, but things deteriorated even more following his recent Vanity Fair interview.
Kiffin said in the interview that racial perceptions tied to Ole Miss created challenges when recruiting some Black athletes while stating that was no longer an issue at Baton Rouge.
“’We really like you, but my grandparents aren’t letting me move to Oxford, Mississippi,’” Kiffin said. “That doesn’t come up when you say Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Parents were sitting here this weekend saying the campus’ diversity feels so great. ‘It feels like there’s no segregation, And we want that for our kid because that’s the real world.’”
The comments quickly sparked backlash, and several prominent Ole Miss voices pushed back on the narrative. Even Rebels legend Archie Manning publicly defended the school, saying many families are more than comfortable sending their children to Ole Miss.
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Former LSU coach Ed Orgeron jumped in to defend Kiffin, while Kiffin himself moved quickly to clarify and apologize for how his remarks were interpreted. On Monday, reports also surfaced that the SEC could potentially reprimand Kiffin over the comments as league officials gather in Florida this week for the conference’s annual spring meetings.
However, Kiffin has continued to insist that his remarks were not racially insensitive.
“People don’t read the actual words I used in the article,” Kiffin told USA TODAY Sports. “I said, ‘A parent said.’ That’s not me saying it as my opinion.”
Whether Kiffin is reprimanded, he just needs to shift his whole focus to LSU, which is given a 39.2% chance of making the College Football Playoff in the 2026 season, according to the PFSN CFB Playoff Metric. Since winning the national championship in 2019, LSU has failed to make the playoff in each of the last five seasons. The fanbase is now hoping to finally see the program return to national prominence instead of remaining stuck in ongoing controversy and public back-and-forths.
