College football is more fun with a coach — and even a program — to root against. Since Nick Saban hung up his visor and whistle, the sport hasn't had either. That Alabama dynasty was more like a horror movie slasher, however, with the Crimson Tide almost always trampling their way to national titles.
Lane Kiffin's LSU, though? This is a much different villain, and one with a backstory that calls to mind the professional wrestling heel who fans used to have a soft spot for.
Kiffin isn't ignorant to the fact that there's a good deal of the country — probably everyone outside of Louisiana's borders, honestly — that doesn't have much good to say about him. He complimented his former stop during a press conference on Monday, using a bit of a tongue-in-cheek praise.
"I told the players today, man, like, 'You don't have anything to worry about as far as attention on you all week and everything," Kiffin said. "There's just gonna be so much attention, hatred, everything on me. I said, 'You just get to go play.' And I said, 'Really, the pressure's on them. They're the team that, we won seven games last year, they won 13. They return two Heisman candidates.' How often does that ever happen in the same backfield?"
Uh, Lane? Who was in charge of the Rebels last season?
Why college football needs an LSU
Kiffin jumping ship in December, leaving the program he'd helped construct in the middle of a College Football Playoff push, certainly didn't gain him any goodwill.
"Consider that they took a coach from a rival — from a rival," Spencer Hall said last week on "The Right Time with Bomani Jones" podcast. "Like, over there, right there. Not distant. Not historic. Not only historical."
There's certainly no love lost by anyone with ties to Oxford, where Kiffin will lead his No. 7 Tigers to in order to face the No. 8 Rebels on Saturday.
"Who?" Pittsburgh Steelers receiver DK Metcalf, an Ole Miss alum, said when asked about Kiffin during an appearance on "The Pat McAfee Show" at Mike McCarthy's team's training camp.
In Kiffin's first game in charge for the Tigers, LSU bludgeoned Dabo Swinney's Clemson, reintroducing themselves as a national power behind transfer quarterback Sam Leavitt. At halftime of that game, Kiffin trolled everyone after playing a game of chicken with the SEC and not adding a pair of players who'd already taken part in NFL training camps.
As for taking on the role of antagonist, Kiffin isn't particularly bothered. The former Oakland Raiders, Tennessee Volunteers head coach has brought his own brand of swagger to one of the most notorious programs in college football.
"I don't worry too much about that," Kiffin said last month on McAfee's show. "I think, as you talk about villains, sometimes the difference between the hero and the villain isn't very far apart — and it changes very often. ... When you're trying to do things at the highest level, a lot of people want you to apologize for what you're doing when you're chasing greatness."
One thing is for sure. Everybody will be tuned in when Kiffin — or public enemy No. 1 — makes his return to his former stomping grounds on Saturday night.
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