When Lane Kiffin walked up to the podium on Monday ahead of LSU’s third road game of the year this Saturday at Auburn (11 a.m., ABC), it marked an anniversary of sorts.
It had been exactly two years since LSU won a road game in Southeastern Conference play, a fact that hadn’t been lost on the first-year LSU coach.
“We haven’t won on the road at LSU in 24 months,” Kiffin said. “And yet, there’s one other nonconference road game; it was at Clemson, and LSU won.”
LSU’s last road win against an SEC foe came midway through Brian Kelly’s third season, a 34-10 win at Arkansas. That night, then-freshman running back Caden Durham ran for three scores, Whit Weeks intercepted a pass that set up an LSU touchdown and quarterback Garrett Nussmeier completed 23 of 34 passes for 233 yards.
LSU has gone 0-8 in SEC road games since, losing to Texas A&M and Florida in 2024; falling to Ole Miss, Vanderbilt, Alabama and Oklahoma in Kelly’s final campaign; and dropping its first two away games to Ole Miss and Kentucky this season. The Tigers’ victory over Clemson to start last season is their only road win since that Arkansas game in 2024.
“A lot of times on the road, when you break down your losses and your close losses, it’s usually not (about) how many plays they make; it’s more (about) the mistakes you make,” Kiffin said, “more penalties, more false starts and more turnovers than when you play at home.”
Some of their losses have been somewhat justifiable. Last season, Nussmeier played with a spinal cyst that caused abdominal and oblique pain, greatly affecting his capabilities as a passer. Interim coach Frank Wilson was in charge when the Tigers lost to Alabama and Oklahoma last year.
But in a handful of those defeats, LSU simply let the game slip away. The Tigers blew a 10-point halftime lead to Texas A&M. In Norman, they surrendered a lead to Oklahoma in the final minutes by allowing a 58-yard touchdown pass.
The Kentucky loss two weeks ago was arguably the most frustrating one: a 35-34 overtime loss.
“I don’t think there were any secrets; that was a really hard week,” Kiffin said. “Just for the players to regroup, coaches to regroup, after one that in so many ways, obviously, we handed away.”
As of Tuesday, LSU is favored by more than a touchdown (7.5 points) over Auburn, but Kiffin likely believes that line is deceiving. In his opinion, winning on the road in the SEC is a challenge like no other. It’s the deepest conference in the country, an opinion backed up by the fact that 12 of the conference’s 16 schools have appeared in the Top 25 poll at some point this year.
“You can win because your No. 1 seed is better, like the last couple of years, which is true, and credit to the Big Ten with that,” Kiffin said about the national championships. “That doesn’t mean that your conference is deeper because you win the national championship. So our middle to bottom, whoever you declare those teams, those are still really hard places to play.”
LSU’s trip to The Plains is its third of five conference road games, a result of the SEC expanding its conference slate from eight to nine games this season. The Tigers’ remaining road trips are to Tennessee and Arkansas.
For LSU to have any hope of making the College Football Playoff — its odds of making the playoff are at 28%, according to ESPN — the Tigers will have to win at least two of the three remaining road matchups and likely need to win all three.
Their margin for error is slim because of a frustrating trend that started two years ago.
“Winning is hard no matter what level you’re at,” safety Ty Benefield said. “But it is different when it’s the SEC, and especially when you’re (at) those away games.”
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