Lane Kiffin revealed his rooting interests for the Deep South's Oldest Rivalry game last weekend in Athens.
Kiffin was happy to see Auburn upset Georgia 27-24 at Sanford Stadium. LSU travels to Jordan-Hare Stadium this weekend, and Kiffin was hoping that he'd be catching Auburn with some momentum leading into the matchup.
He got what he was rooting for.
"I was rooting for them at the end of the game to win, knowing we were playing them the next week, just because it makes it more challenging," Kiffin said Monday during his first Auburn week media availability.
There's no reason not to believe Kiffin here. The man has always been hungry for attention. His 5-2 team is now hitting the road to take on a 4-2 team for a matchup with far more juice. More eyeballs will be on the product.
Not to mention, Kiffin hasn't been trolling Auburn much since hiring Alex Golesh.
Kiffin had jokes when he was still at Ole Miss and Hugh Freeze was in Auburn's head coaching seat.
Lane Kiffin respects Auburn as a threat on the road
Kiffin acknowledged the Jordan-Hare Stadium voodoo on Monday.
He revealed that Bruce Pearl told him all about it during the 2022 coaching cycle, when Kiffin was almost the head football coach of the Auburn Tigers. Kiffin ultimately backed out and stayed in Oxford, Mississippi, for three more seasons.
Kiffin respects the 16 home-field advantages across the SEC. As he said, the depth in the conference is unmatched by the Big Ten or anyone else.
For Kiffin, his hot-seat status can change any day now. LSU losing to Ole Miss was a big blow for the program, considering the stakes coming into it from an offseason of both programs poaching each other. Losing to Kentucky proved Kiffin has an Achilles heel with the Wildcats, and also that LSU may not be ready to win a championship in year one of his tenure.
An LSU loss to Auburn would be validation for the latter that suffering through the Freeze era was worth getting Golesh at the end of it. To Kiffin, an LSU loss would mean his antics were too distracting for there to be a happy ending in Baton Rouge during the 2026 college football season. LSU would effectively be out of the CFP race with another defeat.
Maybe Kiffin should be careful what he wishes for. As Auburn play-caller Joel Gordon said, quarterback Byrum Brown and the other USF/Group of Six transfers will complete their adjustments to the SEC at some point.
If that happens fully against a banged-up LSU defense, then Kiffin will have a lot to answer for heading into his Tigers' bye week.
Add us as a preferred source on Google