Caleb Thompson

I’m going to try not to overreact here. But I do want to describe what we saw last night - and, more importantly, what it feels like. With one very important distinction: I am not declaring that this is the truth. I’m describing the feeling. And tonight, it felt like Lane Kiffin was the perfect fit for LSU, for Louisiana, and for everything this place is about. Kiffin has spent his entire career being doubted, criticized, and hated on—and he’s never seemed particularly interested in giving a damn. That sounds a lot like Louisiana. He went in to the locker room and said “Now imagine if we had Pro players” up 31-3. He went for two up 44-3… He IS STTDB made in to a football coach. Give LSU fans something exciting. Give them something entertaining. Give them a reason to believe that when they walk into Tiger Stadium, they’re going to see something they can’t see anywhere else. And they will show up. We saw that last night. In a huge way. And now LSU finds itself with perhaps the most reckless entertainer in all of football. LSU fans have been begging for excitement for years. Lane Kiffin might be the answer to that call. Because since Nick Saban left, LSU has often felt like a program that wins in spite of itself, rather than because of everything it does right. We know the talent this state produces. We know what Louisiana football looks like when that talent is put on a national stage. And we know how many championships that talent has helped carry coaches who, frankly, probably weren't good enough to win them on their own. But somehow, through all of it, LSU has still felt like college football’s sleeping dragon. Well tonight, the fiddler walked in and woke the dragon and the fiddler’s name is Lane Kiffin.