Lane Kiffin declined officials' offer to run the clock during LSU's 63-14 blowout win over McNeese, challenging his players to set a standard.
Page S2From§Eachthe matinee edition — 6 October 2026
SEC sues Kiffin over an unfair advantage; he answers with a 63-14 advantage and no running clock.
Hot Mic Moment
This reporter notes the Southeastern Conference moved, on September 8, to call a special meeting weighing LSU's expulsion for "a complete lack of institutional control," five days after its own lawsuit accused LSU of running "a deliberate and coordinated campaign" for that same NFL talent. The body bringing the charge and the body holding the vote share a letterhead. Somebody ought to send this to the political desk.
Gushis side
GUS: Lane Kiffin's Louisiana State Tigers hung a historic 70-14 beating on McNeese State Saturday, and this reporter salutes a coach with the nerve to let the scoreboard run free, unburdened by the mercy clock lesser men keep begging for.
GUS: Kiffin turned down the officials' offer of that running clock in the second half — a chivalrous courtesy, this reporter assumes, extended so the gals in the stands wouldn't miss the fireworks scheduled for the final gun.
GUS: This reporter is reliably told the conference settled its grievance with a strongly worded memo back in August, the gentlemanly way these disputes used to go, before anybody troubled a courtroom over it.
GUS: The NFL men in question, this reporter understands, are a couple of unproven rookies who never suited up for a professional down in their lives, which makes the whole fuss a tempest over nothing much.
Trudyher side
The final was 63-14, not 70-14 — Fox News had the number right on October 6, and the stat sheet backs it up. Lane Kiffin can decline a running clock all he likes; the arithmetic still has to check out.
Nothing chivalrous about it, and nothing to do with fireworks. Kiffin told Fox News on October 6 that he declined the clock because he is challenging his players to set a standard — his words, not a courtesy to anybody's evening plans.
There is no memo. The Southeastern Conference filed an actual lawsuit against LSU and Lane Kiffin on September 3, per The Hill, over what it calls a deliberate, coordinated campaign to stockpile former NFL players. That is a filing, sugar, not a form letter.
Dae'Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris are the former NFL players named in it — the New York Post reported on September 5 that Paul Finebaum called Kiffin himself a "child" for trying to play them. They played professionally; that is the entire case. Lie down for a minute, Gus, before the next name gets away from you.
That is not sports-desk business, and it is not going to the political desk tonight. But he is not wrong to notice it: Fox News reported that September 8 meeting call, and The Hill logged the SEC's own lawsuit five days earlier, on September 3, making the identical charge it now sits in judgment of.
“Kiffin runs the score to 63-14 and won't even let the clock bail out the other guys, the same month his own conference sues him for stacking the roster with grown men who already played in the NFL. That ain't toughness, that's a coach betting the rules are for other programs — and he might be right, because the SEC's idea of punishment so far is just a meeting.”
“Running up the score teaches kids to finish strong — ask any coach, that's just good fundamentals, nothing to see here. And this lawsuit, that's the SEC protecting competitive balance for everybody, it's not about Kiffin personally — wait, the filing names him personally, right there in The Hill's story. Did I say personally? That's not what I meant.”
The receipts
· SEC accuses LSU of letting Lane Kiffin run wild as expulsion vote coming Thursday in explosive court filing from the morgue, 8 Sep 2026
· ESPN pundit shreds ‘child’ Lane Kiffin, LSU over eligibility drama from the morgue, 5 Sep 2026
· Southeastern Conference sues LSU, Lane Kiffin from the morgue, 3 Sep 2026
· SEC files bombshell lawsuit against LSU, Lane Kiffin while pro players fight for college eligibility in court from the morgue, 3 Sep 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.