Death Valley sold out again. Tech gets the hangover test.

Death Valley sold out again. Tech gets the hangover test.

No. 8 LSU hosts Louisiana Tech Saturday night after the SEC cooled off — Kiffin wants Clemson energy, not a Week 2 shrug.

By Rhett Landry

Thursday night the SEC presidents got on a Zoom, talked about “expectations and responsibilities,” and hung up without a sanction, without an expulsion vote, without anything that would keep Saturday from happening. Field Level Media / Reuters had it: the meeting ended, the statement was soft, and the football calendar stayed intact. Wade Rousse already told Greg Sankey the Wright–Harris roster fight was “moot.” Aidan Anding and Gabriel Reliford filled the last two spots. The 105 is locked. The lawsuit noise can wait for another filing. Tiger Stadium does not.

Saturday is Louisiana Tech at No. 8 LSU, 6:32 p.m. CT on SEC Network+, second straight sellout, purple night. LSUSports.net posted the home notes Friday. Last Saturday the Tigers dropped Clemson 51–10 with 644 yards of offense and 145 allowed. Sam Leavitt: 16-of-28 for 230, one passing touchdown, 113 rushing yards and two more scores. Dilin Jones matched him with 113 and two on the ground. Winston Watkins Jr. had seven for 110 and a score. Jordan Ross took one 30 yards the other way. The league stuck Offensive Player, Offensive Lineman, and Defensive Lineman of the Week stickers on three LSU debuts — Leavitt, Jordan Seaton, Ross. That’s the tape Tech has to live with.

Kiffin’s Monday message, per LSUSports and the AP wire: last week is over. Same prep. Same standard. Don’t let the opponent dictate how you practice. He even challenged the crowd — electric for Clemson, bring it again for the in-state game. He also tipped his hat at Ruston. Tech put up 80–6 on Northwestern State. Blake Baker threw for 232 and three scores. Jalen Mickens needed three catches for 133 and a touchdown. Kiffin called the Bulldogs’ 3-3-5 “really unusual,” said you rewrite a lot of rules to play it, and said scoring 80 means you’re doing something right on offense no matter who lined up across from you. Crescent City Sports notes its the first back-to-back LSU–Tech meetings since 1940–41. Last year’s 23–7 in Death Valley was the fewest points Tech has allowed LSU since 1913. That version of LSU is gone. This one just chewed up a Power program in purple.

National board noise still matters for the reader who watches more than one TV. No. 1 Ohio State at No. 4 Texas is Saturday’s headline elsewhere. Missouri at Kansas is tonight’s Border War warm-up. Fine. Enjoy it. In Baton Rouge the only ranking that counts this week is No. 8 on the chest and a Ruston team that just hung 80 and thinks it earned a night under the lights. Ole Miss is Sep 19. Oxford already talked. Tech is the gate.

Wear purple. Show up loud. If LSU treats this like a hangover, Sonny Cumbie’s bunch will make the night longer than the scoreboard wants. If LSU treats it like Clemson, Death Valley gets what it paid for — another sellout that sounds like one.