Lane Kiffin isn’t ready to let the SEC off the hook just yet. Just days ago, he took a sarcastic jab at the SEC’s decision to move to a nine-game conference, and now he took it a step further by laying the blame for his injury-bugged roster squarely on the SEC calendar.
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Kiffin believes that playing nine conference games puts the SEC at a disadvantage compared to other conferences like the ACC or the Big Ten and the Big 12.
“Like I said, seven more SEC games to go,” Kiffin said during a presser, according to LSU Tigers on the TigerBait YouTube channel. “That’s one of the issues with the scheduling now, the way it is in the SEC and what every other conference plays with. You got games you don’t have to play players in, and you don’t have to play them in second halves and different things. So, be careful what you wish for.”
These comments come on the heels of a rather unfortunate incident that happened at their game against Texas A&M. Though they crushed them, 35-6, they paid a price for it, as linebacker Whit Weeks left the game on crutches with a walking boot on his right leg!
Turns out that Weeks suffered a fracture in his lower right leg that requires surgery, and he is expected to miss at least four to six weeks, with the November 7 game against Alabama mentioned as a possible return target. LSU will have a clearer idea of his timeline after surgery.
“Obviously it didn’t look good when he walked off,” Kiffin said after the game.
By Sunday, even a late-season return was no sure thing.
“We will know more in the morning whether that is a ‘return late in the season’ or ‘no return at all,’” Kiffin said.
With seven SEC games still ahead, this is a huge loss for the team, so Kiffin being upset is understandable. But there is a limit to how much of LSU’s injury situation can be pinned on the schedule.
The Tigers have played only two conference games, and Kiffin himself has described several of the injuries as “freak knee injuries.” Teams across the ACC, Big 12, and Big Ten are dealing with significant injuries as well.
Still, Kiffin has been making this argument for months. Back in July, he argued that the SEC should not have moved to nine conference games before the College Football Playoff committee showed it would reward stronger schedules. He also warned that adding another league game could push schools to drop marquee nonconference matchups.
Earlier this week, Kiffin had already made his feelings about the new format clear. While discussing Texas A&M quarterback Marcel Reed after LSU had faced Ole Miss’ Trinidad Chambliss, he pointed to the scheduling quirks created by the nine-game slate.
“That (Ole Miss) game was supposed to be here, and this one was supposed to be (at Texas A&M),” Kiffin said. “So these are the scheduling quirks that come with our awesome move to nine games that has sure looked so great here lately.”
Kiffin in fact, said he has never been part of a team that has lost this many key players to season-ending injuries or long absences during the season.
“Unfortunately, I said this would be a major challenge,” Kiffin said. “This was not a team built for a lot of top-level injuries, but here we are. I told the staff, you’ve got to earn your paychecks the rest of the year, because it’s not like we are in Week 11.”
Truly, they have a thin roster now, and Weeks was hardly the only LSU defender to go down against Texas A&M.
LSU’s injury list keeps growing
In the same game that took out Weeks, Fellow linebacker Charles Ross II suffered an ACL injury in the first quarter. Kiffin later confirmed that Ross is done for the season.
“The other part that I was down too: Charles Ross out for the year with an ACL, and he’s one of our second linebackers. That’s really hard. You lose two of your top four or five guys in one game. Not a lot of numbers there. Eventually, you run out,” Kiffin said.
Safety Dashawn Spears tore his ACL against Ole Miss, and tight end Trey’Dez Green hurt his knee in the same game and is targeting a return for the Alabama game. Wide receiver Phillip Wright III is done for the season after a leg injury against Louisiana Tech.
LSU also lost its defensive end Gabe Reliford and cornerback Aidan Anding to season-ending injuries during spring football.
Even quarterback Sam Leavitt played through a hamstring injury against Texas A&M, and he was visibly limited as a runner. Still, he gave one of his better performances, throwing for 312 yards and two touchdowns while completing 74% of his passes.
“Obviously, he was injured and it got worse,” Kiffin said. “I was actually getting ready to take him out, and he said, no way was he coming out. He was going to play through it.”
Kiffin overhauled the roster through the portal, but the depth is now thinner at several key positions. With Weeks out, Davhon Keys, who led the Tigers last year in tackles, and TJ Dottery are the main options at linebacker, with Tylen Singleton and Zack Weeks also in the rotation. LSU now gets a break from SEC play when McNeese visits Tiger Stadium, giving Kiffin exactly the kind of matchup he argues can help teams protect their starters before Kentucky and Mississippi State come to town in October.