LSU coach Lane Kiffin used a midweek media session to criticize the Southeastern Conference’s new nine-game league schedule, pointing to unusual home-and-home patterns that now shape the Tigers’ early slate.
The conference expanded from eight to nine in-conference games this season after years of debate among athletic directors and coaches. The change was intended to increase league inventory for television partners and to give every team a chance to play more of the 16-member field.
Kiffin said the new format has produced what he called scheduling quirks. LSU traveled to Ole Miss last weekend and will host Texas A&M on Saturday, repeating the same sites from 2025 rather than flipping them as the old eight-game model typically required.
“Obviously we just played the best one in the country last week thinking he can hurt you even when you have the right call on and everybody covered and a guy comes free,” Kiffin said about Trinidad Chambliss. “Obviously he played great a year ago here in the stadium, so this is one of those scheduling quirks just like last week where never in that LSU-Ole Miss series had it ever been played two times in a row.”
“That (Ole Miss) game was supposed to be here, and this one was supposed to be (at Texas A&M). So these are the scheduling quirks that come with our awesome move to nine games that has sure looked so great here lately.”
The Tigers fell 32-24 at Oxford on Sept. 19 and dropped to No. 10 in the Associated Press poll. Ole Miss rose into the top 10 after the win. LSU is 2-1 overall and 0-1 in the SEC heading into a 6:30 p.m. Saturday kickoff against No. 23 Texas A&M at Tiger Stadium.
Kiffin downplayed the significance of the loss to his former program. He suggested the result would draw less attention if the opponent carried a different name.
“If it wasn’t for the name, Ole Miss, and if it was more of a traditional name that we were playing, we hadn’t coached at before, how would everybody be feeling if, in your third game of your first year of a program, you went to Ohio State and came all the way back? The quarterback didn’t play very — ours didn’t play very well, and theirs played lights out. I’m sure after three games, he would be named the Heisman winner,” he said.
The nine-game model requires each SEC team to play three annual opponents plus a rotating group of six others over a four-year cycle. LSU and Ole Miss are locked as permanent rivals, as are LSU and Texas A&M for this cycle. The extra conference game replaced a typical Group of Five opponent for most schools while Power Four nonconference games were generally kept in place.
Kiffin has argued since last spring that the added league game makes little sense until the College Football Playoff selection process places heavier weight on strength of schedule. The playoff remains a 12-team field this season. No additional automatic bids were granted to the SEC or Big Ten despite the tougher slates.
League teams now face five road conference games in some years. Historical data from the eight-game era showed SEC squads already posted more losses against ranked opponents than teams in other Power conferences. Adding one more intra-league contest is expected to increase that gap.
Texas, for example, still has seven remaining games against teams currently ranked in the top 25, according to a graphic circulated among SEC coaches this week. Some Big 12 and ACC programs have zero remaining ranked opponents on their 2026 schedules.
LSU’s remaining slate includes home dates against Alabama and Texas in November and road trips to Tennessee and Arkansas. Those games will determine whether the Tigers can recover from the early conference loss and stay in playoff contention.
Conference officials have said the nine-game format creates more balanced competition across the 16-team league and generates additional revenue. Coaches across the SEC have offered mixed public comments since the change was finalized, with several noting that the extra game will produce more quality wins but also more quality losses.
Kiffin’s comments came during the weekly SEC coaches teleconference as he prepared his team for Texas A&M quarterback Marcel Reed, another dual-threat passer after facing Ole Miss’ Trinidad Chambliss last Saturday.
The Tigers last beat the Aggies in 2023. Saturday’s game will be the second consecutive meeting in Baton Rouge.
