Lane Kiffin’s $100 million crash at LSU tops SEC football stock report

ATHENS — It’s been more money, more problems for LSU and coach Lane Kiffin this season with the Tigers in the midst of a $100 million meltdown.

Kiffin’s Bayou Bengals dropped to 6-3 on the season and 3-3 in SEC play with their 31-13 loss to Alabama (7-2, 5-2) on Saturday in Tiger Stadium.

The off-field issues further bring the investment into Kiffin into question, as the school is embroiled in a federal lawsuit with the SEC stemming from LSU’s push to roster professional athletes in fall camp.

It was a particularly tough loss for Kiffin, as it dropped him to 0-6 in his career against Alabama — including his coaching stops at Tennessee and Ole Miss — and may have eliminated LSU from SEC title and College Football Playoff field consideration.

Kiffin delivered the biggest indictment on himself when citing the yardage the Tigers piled up in the loss.

“It’s a very unusual statistic, you know, yardage-wise 457 to 285,” Kiffin said of LSU’s advantage in total yardage. “You know, comes down to red zone and fourth downs we didn’t make, 0 for 4 on fourth downs…"

In other words, it came down to Kiffin’s ability to make clutch play calls — the very thing LSU thought it was getting when it invested more than $100 million to hire him in Baton Rouge.

LSU paid:

• $54 million to buy out former coach Brian Kelly

• $3 million to buy out Kiffin’s Ole Miss contract

• An estimated $50.75 million on its roster, per the NIL Standard website

• A $91 million, seven-year contract to Kiffin that would pay him 80% of his remaining salary if fired without cause

An estimated $4 million went to NIL portal transfer QB Sam Leavitt, who was 35-of-47 passing for 380 yards with an interception.

But as Kiffin noted, LSU was 0-for-4 on fourth downs and scored just 10 points on four trips into the red zone (inside 20-yard line).

“I just felt like field goals weren’t going to win the game,” Kiffin said. “It was just a feeling that we were going to need some touchdowns.”

Kiffin and LSU are going to need some inspired football as well as some luck if they are to make the 12-team field. The Tigers dropped to No. 24 in the AP Top 25, and Alabama, Kentucky and Ole Miss have head-to-head tiebreakers over LSU should their postseason eligibility boil down to metrics.

Here’s a look at how the SEC Stock Report shakes out this week:

Stock soaring

South Carolina won its fourth straight game, rallying for a 17-9 home win over Texas A&M on Saturday with a road game at Arkansas on deck.

The Gamecocks have only a 5% chance of making the 12-team CFP field, per ESPN’s playoff calculator, but that doesn’t make South Carolina’s season turnaround any less impressive.

“We outscored them 10-0 in the fourth quarter — which, games in this league, it’s going to come down to the fourth quarter,” South Carolina coach Shane Beamer said on his Sunday night teleconference. “You see that every week, and that’s what last night was. So, really proud of our team being at their best when it counted, and that was in the fourth quarter.”

Georgia scored its second consecutive dominant victory away from Sanford Stadium, snapping Ole Miss’ 16-game home win streak with a 42-7 win.

The Bulldogs are No. 1 in the AP Top 25 poll, and they will most likely be No. 1 in the CFP rankings when they are released Tuesday night.

“Our guys are starting to kind of believe in each other and believe in the plan, so, I don’t think it’s about who we played or any of that,” said Kirby Smart, whose Georgia team beat Florida 27-8 two weeks ago.

“I think it’s about the culture on our team and kind of the leadership that they go about their work week with. It’s not going to be any different next week.”

Stock up

Texas has won three games in a row — the second-longest win streak among SEC teams — after delivering a 34-20 win at Missouri on Saturday.

Coach Steve Sarkisian is circling the wagons with “us against the world” messaging.

“Nobody believed we’d win the game, nobody thought we were going to come here and win the game,” Sarkisian said. “Nobody thought we were we were tough enough at the line of scrimmage. Everyone thought we’d be pushed around.”

Alabama, like Georgia, has won two games since its most recent loss, topping Texas A&M 31-20 on Oct. 24 and winning at LSU on Saturday, 31-13.

The Tide, with games remaining at Vanderbilt, against UT-Chattanooga and at home against Auburn, are the odds-on favorite to play Georgia in the SEC championship game.

Tennessee is the most likely team to derail Alabama’s hopes, should it maintain a two-loss season and get into a head-to-head tiebreak with the Tide, having beaten Alabama 26-10 on Oct. 17.

The Vols bounced back from a 27-24 loss at South Carolina to crush Kentucky in Neyland Stadium, 34-6, on Saturday.

Stock down

Florida suffered a 23-7 home loss to Oklahoma on Saturday and is fading after climbing to No. 8 in the AP Top 25 in the Sept. 27 poll following a 52-28 home win over then-No. 4 Ole Miss.

The Gators’ loss to the Sooners followed their 27-8 loss to Georgia in a hard-hitting game played in Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

“I do think when things are going really, really bad, your toughness gets challenged, mental toughness,” said first-year coach Jon Sumrall, whose team plays at Kentucky on Saturday. “We have to respond. You’re either built for this or you’re not.”

Texas A&M’s loss to South Carolina dropped the Aggies into a three-way tie with Arkansas and Vanderbilt at the bottom of the SEC standings with a 1-5 league mark.