HOUSTON — In the end, there was relief.

Hurt? Yes. Frustration? Yes.

But the 2025 season is now, mercifully, over. A 7-6 season that cost Brian Kelly his job but not his millions, that cost athletic director Scott Woodward his authority but not his millions, that held a fair chunk of the college football world in suspense before Lane Kiffin finally signed on to be LSU’s coach, is history. If Ole Miss would just do the reasonable thing and lose Thursday to Georgia in the Sugar Bowl, ending the obligation of a cross-section of Kiffin’s LSU staff to coach the Rebels in the College Football Playoff, then this Lane Train could truly start flying down the tracks.

Kiffin popped by Saturday night to watch from the sideline and do a couple of second-quarter cameos on ESPN and the LSU radio network as the Tigers lost to hometown Houston 38-35 in the Texas Bowl at NRG Stadium.

He witnessed LSU giving a better accounting of itself than what was expected of the Tigers, who scored north of 25 points against an FBS opponent for the first time in the entire ever-loving season.

It still wasn’t enough against the Cougars. Blame the opt outs. Blame injuries. Blame the transfer portal. Blame the million little flaws that have cropped up to kneecap LSU throughout a season that began with teasing high hopes and ended with an overwhelming desire to …

Just. Move. On.

Saturday couldn’t have started better for the Tigers, who bolted to a 14-0 lead thanks to Barion Brown’s game-opening 99-yard kickoff return touchdown — the first time LSU ever started a bowl game with one of those. The Tigers got a stop, then Michael Van Buren found tight end Trey’Dez Green on a 23-yard scoring pass and suddenly the challenger was the aggressor.

The favorite was stunned but not knocked out. LSU was faster with players like Brown. LSU was more talented with players like Green, who put a helpless Cougars’ defensive back like on his waist like he was a rebound-swiping power forward on a 4-yard touchdown catch midway through the third that tied the Texas Bowl 21-21.

But LSU couldn’t keep pace. A defense that was the glue that held the Tigers together most of the season was down six starters Saturday. Their absence was like a levee breach. Houston quarterback Connor Weigman, last seen against LSU getting benched in 2024 at Texas A&M in favor of Marcel Reed, skillfully found the weaknesses in the Tigers’ armor. He completed 75% of his passes for 236 yards and Houston’s first four touchdowns, justly earning MVP honors.

“That was a big blow to our football team,” LSU interim coach Frank Wilson said. “It’s not an excuse. It’s the reality of where we are.”

The Tigers were penalized nine times for 95 yards to Houston’s four times for 29 yards. That included a weak pass interference flag on LSU corner Ja’Keem Jackson. Wilson erupted — perhaps with the full force of the season’s frustration fueling his emotions — drawing a rare unsportsmanlike conduct coach’s penalty. That set up a 7-yard Weigman to Tanner Koziol touchdown pass with :04 left before halftime.

“I was willing to fight for a win,” Wilson said.

The will was there for LSU Saturday night, and all season, but the flesh was weak. From beginning to end, the Tigers were never the team we thought they would be. There is something noble about their fight, but moral victories don’t win bowl games or advance you in the College Football Playoff.

“I’m proud of our football team,” Wilson said. “Proud that they competed to the best of their ability.”

Wilson spoke before the game of how these Tigers would have a bond that would carry through their lives. But someone is breaking up that old team of theirs. Wilson is part of the wholesale trades of coaches and front office personnel going on between LSU and Ole Miss — 19 at latest count. He’s set to become the Rebels’ running backs coach after the CFP, while Kevin Smith leaves Ole Miss to coach that position in Baton Rouge. Hard feelings will simmer all offseason until the Tigers and Rebels play Sept. 19 in Oxford, in what has to be the most anticipated LSU-Ole Miss game since Billy Cannon. The rivalry is going all Spinal Tap (“This one goes to 11”) again.

For now, the focus shifts to recruiting and the transfer portal. Kiffin bemoaned the state of college football with the wild transfer portal about to officially open Jan. 2 for two weeks. Two weeks that will shape the team he has to work with.

“I tell our coaches and fans you’ve got to get used to being uncomfortable,” Kiffin said during the game.

Good advice, but the expectation is that Kiffin will find a way to make the whole thing work to LSU’s advantage. A bowl game few if any were eager to see the Tigers play clears the decks for the question everyone has had since Kiffin arrived: How much can he win in 2026, and can it be enough to get LSU into the CFP?

There is relief that for the Tigers that is only thing to focus on now.