Lane Kiffin's LSU Football is the team NO ONE in CFB wants to play

Like, it's kind of lined up perfectly where everyone else is kind of getting wild, and LSU's getting a little bit steadier. I would say LSU certainly may have been the first attempt to go to the moon. Space shuttle blew up, tried to get back onto the moon, blew up again. Now we're back in the lab, and it feels like everybody else's space shuttle is blowing up. You're like, oh, it takes a little bit of notes. Like, don't do that. And then you did learn from our mistakes. But LSU, it does feel like as everything around you is kind of going to ----. You finally feel like, all right, maybe we're the ones passing the class at this point. So it's a great spot to be in. I don't think you could point any other direction than finally seeing what it's like to have a quarterback that understands your offense, as he was not healthy throughout the entire year, obviously a transfer as well. You have all of the transfers that finally can get on the same page with Sam Levitt, and now... All of that is meshing with play calling. That is like, okay, we kind of understand what everybody does well, and you're getting healthier, and you have a bye week. Yeah. No, it helps big time. Wyatt, do you want to run through some of the numbers from Saturday as LSU dominated? And look, the final score doesn't fully explain the start-to-finish domination that LSU did in Jordan-Hare Stadium. I mean, just owned Auburn from the opening kick Until the final. Clock hit zero, absolute domination. Wyatt hit me with some of those numbies. LSU out-gained Auburn, 552-271 in this game, 387-204 through the air, 165-67 on the ground. LSU averaged 4.9 yards per carry, Auburn just 1.9. Sam Levitt, 32-45, 387 pass yards. Three touchdowns, one rushing touchdown, eight carries for 54 yards, so over 400 yards of total offense. And the big one, zero turnovers again for Sam Levitt for the second week in a row. Held Byron Brown to 15 of 24 for just 160 yards, 19 carries, 21 rushing yards for Byron Brown. Dylan Jones had over 20 carries, 92 yards, a touchdown, four catches for 27 yards. And then Jackson Harris, how about we give a hand for Jackson Harris? Nine catches. 178 yards and two touchdowns for LSU's de facto number one target now. Trades Green with a triumphant return, five catches, 50 yards, and a touchdown. What a game. No, a huge victory for LSU on Saturday. Look, people are going to talk about the level of Team Auburn is, the talent they have. They were unranked, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. The narrative is going to change after the fact. But before that game, hey. Before that game, everything was against LSU and the entire talking points were LSU can't win on the road. Look at Auburn coming off that big win and all these things on why LSU was going to lose. And look, it was hard not to fall into the trap. I mean, we were sitting there on Friday at Bally's talking about the game. Regardless of what had been shown on the field and all of the things, it's hard not to fall into the narratives and the storylines and the things that you're constantly being fed. It was hard to feel 100% confident about LSU going into the game because you needed to see something you hadn't seen happen just yet, and that was to take care of business and do what you do on the road, not just at home. Not just in Tiger Stadium, to hop on a bus or a plane and go elsewhere and do it there. And they finally make that happen. And funny enough, now I don't think there's as much credit being given about this victory specifically because I think everyone is now looking at it going, it was just a one-time thing for Auburn to get the win over Georgia and not as much. Look at what LSU did against the team that beat the number one team, right? But I do feel like there's a bit of a narrative shift happening around LSU, and people are kind of hopping back on the wagon. Would you all agree? I would think you would. It's kind of what you said. When you start seeing everybody else, there's no perfect team in the country. At all. Neither close. And I think people are used to that kind of being the case, where it's... There's always, or at least it's always felt like there's a team that was head and shoulders better than everybody else, or somebody that was making a run that was at least the talk of, oh, should we be looking at Indiana? Don't really take it seriously that you see that they only lost one game. The talk was, who's going to get into the playoff that hasn't gotten in yet? And it felt like... You kind of knew who your teams were, and then it was like, oh, let's see, this will be fun to see who they're going to throw in there, who can make a run. Now it feels like it's just, it's a bar fight, and LSU is starting to be like, that looks like somebody that can continue to smash bottles over other people's heads and keep fighting, because it is, it's starting to come together, and you've seen bits and pieces of it from LSU's perspective, and I think that's why. Even these wins are a little bit frustrating because you see how good they've played so well in spurts and then they'll, and this could still happen, like the other shoe drops, like, okay, they just can't put everything together. But that was the first time you've put it all together on the road and it did take maybe one dropped, reviewed interception and Sam Leavitt talked about it, he's like, I just didn't even see him. And that is something that you would like, because that's the only thing that makes sense because I don't know how you make that throw, he's like, I didn't see him at all. Right. And so. Obviously, it goes to review, ruled not a catch, LSU rolls from then, and it becomes a very impressive win at Auburn, a place that is notorious for an absolute struggle or just a wild game, and LSU took care of business and, I think, answered a lot of questions for a lot of people around the country. Well, and I think, excuse me, one of the biggest things that I've started to realize because With how crazy it's gotten, right? And resumes, and we've talked about this from the beginning, like resumes are kind of dying. Like it doesn't really matter who you beat or who you lose to at this point or what it looks like or how it, it doesn't matter. So all these people having conversations about we have better wins or better losses. Those things aren't that big of a deal anymore because it ultimately just comes down to what are the number of wins and the number of losses. And so with that and everyone kind of beating up on each other and the resume being removed of it doesn't matter who the opponent is. It's just win or loss. People start to start, they start looking at numbers a lot closer and getting into statistics, whether it's the S&P Plus or total offense, total defense. And when you start diving into these numbers, there's a team. That's sitting at the top a whole lot in these numbers, whether it's point differential or total offense, EPA, what quarterback has the highest QBR, or all of these things that you really start to dive into because you're trying to figure out who the best team is. And at this point, the games almost feel like they're not telling you that much because you don't know what's happening. So what are you going to bet on? And it's the numbers. And LSU ranks at the top in a lot of different spots. Whether it's defense, whether it's offense, they're in the top four everywhere. And so it's like, who's the best team in the country? I can't trust the football games because one weekend you would say, Georgia, wow, huge win over Alabama. That's the best team in the country, by far. Most complete, Kirby Smart to a T, like that team. And then they get pushed around and lose to Auburn. Or it's, man, Texas gridded one out against Ohio State. That's the best team in the country. Arch, man. And then they lose two in a row, right? And then it's, man, BYU. Look, best win on the season, huge victory over Notre Dame. Then they lose to UCF. And so it's all these things where I can't trust the games because the team I watch on one Saturday, I'm not watching the next Saturday. So what do I trust? And people start to trust the numbers. And I think that's where the credit for LSU is coming is because... They're at the top in a lot of these statistical categories. I think it's a, I look at it like stocks. Like this is a classic buy low situation for LSU. But if you get it right, that return is almost higher than any other stock that you could buy. Because I think, I wouldn't say it was proved this past Saturday. I think we've known this probably for a while. When LSU plays their best football game, their A-plus football game, if you will, there's not a team in the country that they can't play with. Now, this month of November is going to be interesting. You've obviously got three top 16 teams, but I think that's what you're seeing from a lot of the national media personalities is you look at those numbers. The ones I keep seeing are the EPA, where you want to be in the top right of the graph. And the top right of the graph is consistently LSU, Georgia, and then a massive stretch of nothing after that. And that's what you're seeing. I think people are seeing that, and they're looking at LSU, and they're like, how did they lose? And then you turn on the Auburn game, and you're like, Sam Leavitt's really good. Like, the LSU offense, really good. The LSU defense, really good. Okay, well, they lost a one-possession game against Ole Miss. Tough environment. They're one play away, one yard away from beating Kentucky, who's first place in the SEC right now, as crazy as that sounds. And it's like, if they can just figure it out, if Lane Kiffin can just figure it out, That's a team that can go as far as anybody, and what I think you're seeing right now from LSU is you go back and look at Ole Miss last year. Early in the season, you've got a six-point win against Arkansas, right? You've got a three-point win against Washington State, and then you fast-forward a couple weeks later, and you're looking at Ole Miss with Quinshon Judkins. You're like, this team might be the best team in the country. They can't be stopped. They're beating Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. They're almost beating Miami. Like, they look unbelievable. And I think you're seeing that same sort of... trajectory from this LSU team where they keep getting better, and they're putting it all together at the right time, in the right spots, and it's going to make for a very interesting month of November. No, look, LSU goes out there on Saturday against Auburn, like I said, all the narratives going into that week, like, I mean, us on Friday morning, right, everything's pointing towards one thing, and it's like, yeah, but I just don't know if I can... If I can 100% say it, because of all of these other factors, LSU's got to go on the road. Look at how Auburn turned Georgia over. Levitt's got these turnover issues. Blake Baker versus rushing quarterbacks. All of those things and narratives and storylines about this team, and they just go out there and do what they do. I mean, to start that game, they, I'll do it this way, the drive breakdown. They have 10 drives, 5 touchdowns, 1 field goal, 1 turnover on downs, and 3 punts. Auburn had 9 drives, 5 punts. They score 2 touchdowns and kick a field goal. I mean, there were 1, 2, 3, 4 of their first 5 drives, or 4 of their first 6 drives were 3 plays, 3 and out. Because this defense dominated. You wanted to see them check boxes. Can they be cleaner operationally on the road? Thought they did a very good job. Can they be physical up front? Against a physical front. Say what you want about Auburn. They pushed around Georgia. And so LSU needed to be physical and they did that. Can Sam Leavitt protect the football? Look, there was one play he put it in harm's way and he caught a break. And Lane literally looked at him, said he said it on the sideline. That can't happen. We are in control of this football game. If you make mistakes, that's the only way they can hang around. If we just do our business and you don't make a mistake, we win this game easy, and you saw that bear fruit because the turnover doesn't happen because it wasn't a catch. LSU gets the ball back, and they score a touchdown, right? Can this defense, can Blake Baker stop a running quarterback, one that had back-to-back weeks of 100-plus rushing yards before this game? One of those games against Kirby Smart in Georgia. Say what you want to say about the talent on the Auburn team or whatever. The week before they played LSU, their quarterback ran all over Kirby Smart's defense and Auburn's defense out-physicaled Georgia up front and forced Gunnar Stockton to turn the football over. So say what you want to say. That's what they did the week prior. And LSU. Had proven to struggle with some of those things, and they didn't on Saturday. They checked all those boxes and quieted all those narratives, injured and hair, Saturday at 11 a.m. It was huge to see that from this team, to see another step forward, right? We've been talking about them getting better. They've been improving week by week. Levitt's been getting better. They've been doing these things better. They have the 31-0 shutout against Mississippi State, but there's an asterisk next to it. There's no asterisk next to this past Saturday. 38-17 over Auburn. You can say what you want about Auburn, but remember what they did the week before. Maybe they played over their skis. Maybe more Georgia made uncommon mistakes. But what I saw from Auburn against Georgia was they were more physical. They made Georgia make mistakes and they capitalized on them. LSU went in there and handled business. The reason why the tune about Auburn has shifted isn't because Auburn changed. It's because of what the opponent did to them. And that's the part about LSU. That fires me up the most about this season. Because you're looking for, in a year of such turmoil and ups and downs around the nation, you're looking for themes, right? What's something that week by week continues to be a theme? LSU's played football how many weeks? Eight weeks? Six out of those eight weeks have been complete and utter domination. What's the percentage? What's six out of eight? Seventy-five. Seventy-five percent of the time, LSU dominates their opponent. They don't just beat their opponent. They don't just win. They dominate. 51-10, was it 45-14 against Louisiana Tech, 31-6 against Texas A&M, I don't even remember what it was against McNeese, 63-14, something like that, right? 31-0 against Mississippi State, 38-17 versus Auburn. I mean, there's a 20 plus point victories every single week, 75% of the time. 75% of the time, LSU on both sides of the football is dominating their opponent. But there have been these two instances that create the conversation, right? That create the, well, look what happened in these two quarters against Ole Miss. Because really, it was just two quarters. Look at this game against Kentucky. And look, the Kentucky game haunts more and more as the season goes on because it just sucks because you should have won it. But at the same time, maybe it was necessary to learn and improve. And that's what you've seen from this team every game since. They continue to improve. And if you're looking for themes, the theme is majority of the time, 75% of the time, LSU is dominating the team across from them. And they're going into the bye week at 6-2 with everything in front of them. Everything in front of them. Because there's been utter chaos going on around the country. You can't really make a, like, I wouldn't be able to make a graphic of what 12 teams I think are going to get in right now because I've got no clue. So that means everything's in front of you. You're getting healthier. You're finding a rhythm. I mean, all these things happen for a reason. The TreDavious Green injury sucked. And shoot, you might win the Ole Miss game if he's still in there, right? You might at least send it to OT if he's still in for that red zone possession at the end. Do we see the emergence of Jackson Harris if Trey Deis is still out there? Maybe not. You know what he did that game, Jackson Harris? He was one catch for five yards. Fast forward to Auburn, and it could be because, and I think this did play a part in it, Trey Deis, you almost had to take a step back to see the force for the trees. What else do you have? And they put together this portal class of wide receivers that have never played together, some of which you didn't really know who they were. I mean, you have to go on an intercontinental flight to watch Jackson Harris play last year, and now he's, what did he do against Auburn? Nine for 178 and two touchdowns. It's a little different than one for five and a loss. And so when you see this team, the way it's put together, it has all started the puzzle. It started maybe to take a piece away and put two other pieces in, and now it's like, oh, put it in a bigger box because we've got more pieces.