When the SEC released kickoff times for its Nov. 7 games, many were caught off guard to see Alabama at LSU slotted for mid-afternoon rather than at night. LSU coach Lane Kiffin was among them.
"I never even considered that it wouldn't be at night," Kiffin said during a teleconference on Wednesday. He added that he had not given the time any thought, assuming the game would follow the pattern of recent years. "I guess that's probably naive of me," he said.
The rivalry has been a night game in each of the last six seasons. The last time the two teams did not play at night in Baton Rouge was in 2010, and Kiffin noted that the game has been held at night there throughout the past 16 years.
Adding to the sting, Ole Miss, where Kiffin previously worked, was given the primetime window for its home game against Georgia. Kiffin and LSU have been on one side of legal battles opposite the SEC, and he said it would not surprise him if the league office were trying to punish him.
Kiffin said he had joked with LSU's sports information director, Michael Bonnette, that the conference changed the time to reduce LSU's edge, given how well the Tigers play at night and how intimidating the setting is. "If someone thinks the SEC wants us to win this year after what's been going on, they must've just been on Mars the last four months," he said. "I guess when I look at it that way, I'm not surprised."
A daytime meeting between two of the conference's biggest brands, in a game expected to feature likely top-15 teams, is unusual but not unprecedented. The last time Alabama and LSU kicked off at 3:30 p.m. ET was in 2019, when No. 2 LSU, led by Joe Burrow, visited No. 3 Alabama and Tua Tagovailoa at Bryant-Denny Stadium. That game was among the most anticipated of the 21st century, yet it was not played in primetime.
Tiger Stadium is regularly ranked among the best atmospheres in college football, especially after dark. Alabama has been the exception. The Tigers have hosted the Crimson Tide at night every other year since 2012, and LSU is 1-6 in its last seven night home games against Alabama, with many of those results lopsided.
That record suggests a night game has guaranteed LSU little against Alabama. This year's LSU team may be more talented than most of those earlier squads, and Death Valley should still offer an advantage with a loud crowd in the late afternoon.
Whatever the kickoff time, pressure will be on Kiffin to win. LSU will carry at least two losses into the game, and a defeat to the Crimson Tide would leave the team's College Football Playoff path extremely narrow.
