Kiffin wants Saturday to feel like Saturday again

Tech scored 80. The poll drops this afternoon. Death Valley is still the assignment.

By Rhett Landry

Lane Kiffin did not spend Monday talking about Oxford. He spent it talking about Louisiana Tech, and he meant it the way a coach means it when the whole state is already peeking at Sept. 19. The Advocate’s Scott Rabalais had the line from the weekly presser: “Everything’s got to be the same as last Saturday.” Same intensity. Same prep. Don’t let the opponent dictate how you work. He even challenged the fans — mock GameDay stage if you need it, same walk, same noise — because Clemson night felt like the building remembered who it is.

That building is 1-0. LSU athletics still owns the receipt from Saturday: 51-10 over Clemson, Kiffin’s first one in purple. Tech is Saturday, Sept. 12, 6:30 p.m. CT, Tiger Stadium, SEC Network+. Different animal. Same trap if you sleep. Tech put 80 on Northwestern State this weekend, a program record, and Kiffin said out loud what that means: when you score 80, you’re doing a lot right on offense. He also flagged their 3-3-5 defense — “really different,” lots of challenges — after it held someone to 129 yards and seven first downs, per the Advocate write-up of Monday’s desk. That’s not a throwaway Week 2. That’s a coach telling Baton Rouge to keep the foot down.

Sports Illustrated’s college desk has the poll calendar straight: Coaches Poll late morning Eastern, AP Top 25 around 2 p.m. ET Tuesday because the holiday slate pushed the Week 1 ballot off Sunday. Preseason had LSU at No. 11 and Ole Miss at No. 9. Both won. LSU’s margin was a statement. Ole Miss survived Louisville 41-38 on a last-second kick. When AP posts this afternoon, we’ll see if the voters moved either one. Until then, the only ranking that matters in practice is the one that shows up on the depth chart for Tech.

Wednesday the NFL opens — Patriots at Seahawks on NBC. Sunday Jayden’s Commanders go to Philly. Baton Rouge will watch with one eye. The other eye stays on Saturday night and a Bulldog defense that doesn’t look like last week’s leftover. Kiffin asked for the same Saturday. Bring it. Beat Tech. Then the poll and Oxford can fight for the oxygen.

https://capitolandcleats.com/blog/tech-week-starts-on-a-monday-nfl-two-nights-away

https://capitolandcleats.com/blog/oxford-already-called-itself-ready-nashville-just-made-the-sep-19-noise-louder