LSU head coach Lane Kiffin wants his fans in Tiger Stadium early and loud on Saturday, and he told them exactly how to do it: start drinking at 7 a.m.
The Tigers host Louisiana Tech Saturday evening in Baton Rouge, a game that follows LSU’s 51-10 blowout of Clemson in Kiffin’s season-opening debut. Because Louisiana Tech isn’t the kind of marquee opponent that fills a stadium with electricity on its own, Kiffin is pushing fans not to let the matchup change how they show up.
“Don’t let the opponent dictate how you are a fan. We challenge our players to do that, so, the fans, too,” Kiffin told reporters on Monday. “If you’ve got to have a mock Saturday or put up a stage of ‘College GameDay’ — whatever it is. Come out here early; come out here and start drinking at 7:00 a.m..”
He didn’t stop there. Kiffin wants Saturday’s atmosphere to match the intensity fans brought to the Clemson opener.
“Everything’s got to be the same as last Saturday,” Kiffin said. “I challenge our fans the same thing. The fans were electric. The whole walk, the beginning of the game, the first quarter – you could feel it coming down on the opponent. People who have been here a long time, they said it was the loudest, intense feelings they felt ever.”
Kiffin’s public prodding of a fanbase ahead of a lower-profile matchup isn’t new for him. He made similar appeals during his time at Ole Miss whenever the Rebels hosted smaller, out-of-conference teams in Oxford. It’s a challenge plenty of Power Four coaches face when their schedule includes a game that isn’t circled on fans’ calendars.
Louisiana Tech fits that description for much of the LSU fanbase. The game is sandwiched between the celebratory home-opening win over Clemson and next week’s trip to Ole Miss, one of the most anticipated matchups of the college football season.
LSU kicks off against Louisiana Tech at 6:30 p.m. Saturday. Kiffin’s suggested start time for the drinking is nearly 12 hours earlier — and it’s a challenge plenty of fans in Baton Rouge are likely to accept.
