Joel Klatt defines successful Year 1 for Lane Kiffin at LSU
By Rolando Rosa
Published:
The Lane Kiffin era at LSU will soon kick off. FOX Sports’ Joel Klatt is firm in what he believes is necessary for Year 1 to be a successful start.
The Tigers are coming off a 7-6 season as the program fired Brian Kelly after 8 games. Last season, Kiffin guided Ole Miss to an 11-1 mark and bolted before the College Football Playoff to join LSU
Klatt is setting the bar high for Kiffin’s inaugural season with the Tigers.
“They can’t just be a 9-win team,” Klatt said. “With all the support that they’ve had, with all the great teams that they’ve had, this has been an underperforming program through the years. I understand that they’ve won national championships. But that national championship with Joe Burrow was the only playoff berth that they’ve had.”
The benchmark set by Klatt for LSU is not just making the CFP for the first time since 2019 but also advancing.
“Lane is there to move you forward, to get you into this promise land where you expect to be all the time,” Klatt said. “The expectation is the playoff. Not just success. In order to be successful, I think you’ve got to go win a game in the playoff at a minimum. So that means that you’re in the CFP quarterfinals.”
Klatt believes the backdrop for this season creates an immense amount of pressure for Kiffin.
“You can’t just make the playoff…Not with the way that you got Lane Kiffin,” Klatt said. “Not with the roster that you were able to buy up in the transfer portal. Not with the $54 million that you’re spending to not have Brian Kelly be your coach and the $13 million a year that you’re paying Lane Kiffin, who has never even won a Power 4 conference championship.”
LSU begins the season with a home game vs. Clemson on Sept. 5 (7:30 p.m. ET/ABC).
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