Lane Kiffin’s call for a timeout was shocking in its timing.
This happened immediately after McNeese State’s LSU kickoff to start the third quarter. The Tigers led 35-0.
But Kiffin’s decision to reconvene with his team had less to do with Saturday’s score, or with reinforcing a message delivered at halftime, than with what the referees asked of LSU’s head coach as he took the field for the second half at Tiger Stadium.
He wanted to make sure there was no confusion.
“There was a conversation where they asked me, ‘Well, do you want to run the clock in the third and fourth quarter?’ “, remembers Kiffin. “I said no. I don’t believe it. Play the game and we decide when the game ends based on how we play and our physicality.”
After a kick return by LSU sophomore Harlem Berry at the LSU 19, Kiffin surrounded the Tigers. He pointed and shouted with authority.
His players heard it loud and clear.
“We’re not letting them out,” Berry said of their FCS-level foe. “They wanted to run the clock. We don’t do that. We try to run up the score. We try to put everyone in the game, give everyone a chance.”
In the Tigers’ non-conference finale, a 63-14 victory, they didn’t let up.
LSU quarterback Sam Leavitt was pulled after playing most of the first half, completing 18 of 23 passes for 176 yards and three touchdowns despite dealing with a hamstring strain, but the Tigers’ offense did all but stall when their starting quarterback was pulled.
With no clock, LSU gained 384 of its 731 yards in the second half, including 196 of its 367 yards on the ground. The Tigers finished with six rushing touchdowns, including gallops of 46 and 39 yards into the end zone from reserve running back Stacy Gage.
Gage rushed his way to 110 yards, giving LSU two 100-yard rushers to go with Berry’s 125.
LSU finished with a program-record 39 first downs. The Tigers ran a record 101 offensive plays.
There was no clock running. No mercy.
“I told (the players) we’re not doing that,” Kiffin said. “I challenged them, came out and played really well. And I set a rhythm in the way you play and a standard, whether you’re on the first team, second team or third team, of how you play at LSU.
“You should make it a game that people don’t want to program you.”
This was an interesting statement because Kiffin wants to schedule more opponents like McNeese State. He doesn’t want to overload the non-conference slate because he believes LSU has enough testing with nine SEC games on the schedule each year.
LSU still plays Houston out of the Big 12 in 2027, but Kiffin also has Northwestern State and UTSA lined up. In 2028, a matchup with SMU out of the ACC will be accompanied by home games with Southern and UL-Monroe.
But regardless of the opponent, Kiffin wants LSU to play with a certain mentality. That’s why he wasn’t going to let Leavitt sit completely on Saturday, and he also wasn’t going to let defensive stars like Princewill Umanmielen and Ty Benefield take a night off completely.
“I don’t really understand that message,” Kiffin said. “We made a list of 10 upsets where that happened, where that level (of the FCS team) beat people, ranked people over the years. I just don’t think you do that. You have to take every game seriously.”
A running clock wasn’t serious enough for Kiffin either.
He wanted the Tigers to knock out McNeese State on their own time.
“I know you’re supposed to win these games big, but that doesn’t always happen,” Kiffin said. “Maybe you do well in the first quarter, first half, and you come out flat in the third quarter. And I thought our guys responded really well.”
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