Lane Kiffin’s call for a timeout was shocking in its timing.
It came immediately after McNeese State kicked off to LSU to start the third quarter. The Tigers were up 35-0.
But Kiffin’s decision to reconvene with his team had less to do with Saturday’s score, or reinforcing a message delivered at halftime, than what the referees asked LSU’s head coach coming onto 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?’” Kiffin recalled. “I said no. I don’t believe in that. Play the game and we decide when the game’s over by the way we play and how physical we play.”
After a kick return by LSU sophomore Harlem Berry to the LSU 19, Kiffin circled up with the Tigers. He was pointing and yelling with authority.
His players heard him, loud and clear.
“We’re not letting them out the door,” Berry said of their FCS-level foe. “They wanted to run the clock. We’re not doing that. We trying to run up the score. We trying to get everybody in the game, get everybody their opportunity.”
In the Tigers’ nonconference finale, a 63-14 win, they weren’t taking their foot off the gas.
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 a pulled hamstring, but the Tigers offense did anything but stall when their starting quarterback was taken out.
With no running clock, LSU gained 384 of its 731 yards in the second half, including 196 of its 367 ground yards. 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 bullied his way to 110 yards, giving LSU dual 100-yard rushers with Berry’s 125.
LSU finished with a program-record 39 first downs. The Tigers ran a record 101 offensive plays.
There was no running clock. No mercy.
“I told (the players) that we don’t do that,” Kiffin said. “I challenged them, come out and play really well. And set a tempo of how you play and a standard, regardless of whether you’re first-, second-, or third-team, about how you play at LSU.
“You should make it a game that people don’t wanna schedule you.”
That was an interesting statement because Kiffin wants to schedule more opponents like McNeese State. He doesn’t want to overload the nonconference slate because he believes LSU has enough tests with nine SEC games on the docket each year.
LSU is still playing Houston out of the Big 12 in 2027, but Kiffin has also lined up Northwestern State and UTSA. In 2028, a matchup with SMU out of the ACC will be paired 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 sit Leavitt altogether Saturday, nor was he letting defensive stars such as Princewill Umanmielen and Ty Benefield completely take a night off.
“I don’t really get that message,” Kiffin said. “We put up a list of 10 upsets where these had happened, where this level (of FCS team) had beaten people, ranked people over the years. I just don’t think you do that. You gotta take every game serious.”
A running clock wasn’t serious enough for Kiffin, either.
He wanted the Tigers to put away 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 really responded well.”