Lane Kiffin's debut season at LSU went from bad to worse Saturday after Arch Manning's touchdown pass in the dying seconds handed the Tigers a fourth loss that essentially ended any chance at a College Football Playoff berth.
It was the second straight home defeat for the 6-4 Tigers that leaves them in a very similar spot to the 5-3 record Brian Kelly had when he was fired last season. It's probably a safe bet that LSU fans didn't expect to be here when Kiffin joined from Ole Miss on a seven-year, $91-million contract.
Despite winning the LSU the total yardage matchup versus the Longhorns, Kiffin admitted after the game that he understands anger from fans for the team's performance.
"I get it, I'd be pissed too," Kiffin told reporters. "It doesn't really matter that we were seven seconds from winning."
The Tigers actually held an 11-point lead in the second half, but grew stagnant on offense with four punts on the final four possessions. That kept Texas close enough to make its charge, and Manning did just that on the final drive of the game.
While Kiffin was clearly disappointed in the result, he tried to touch on some positives from the season thus far.
"It'd be a lot worse if it wasn't like this," Kiffin said. "If we were sitting in here and they beat us by four scores or something, then I wouldn't have any answers for you besides 'we got a long ways to go.'"
Kiffin added: "Again, I don't overreact - yes we need to win games - but I also don't overreact that if we covered a guy on the last play or that fumble comes out a second earlier or whatever, we're in here and none of these questions are happening."
That may be true, but the season has simply reinforced what has become obvious with Kiffin throughout various stops in his career. While he wins plenty of games, matchups against top-10 opponents have not gone his way. He's now 6-19 in those contests and 15-28 against all ranked opponents.
Kiffin won't have to wait long to improve that mark as the challenge only gets tougher for LSU next week. A trip to face No. 7 Tennessee looms where the Tigers could possibly play spoiler versus Kiffin's former employer.
While a win wouldn't alter LSU's playoff hopes, it could go a long way to cooling down the temperature in Baton Rouge after a shaky start to his tenure.
