A DOMINANT WIN for Lane Kiffin and LSU over Kentucky would prove THEY ARE CONTENDERS

The narrative that's being pushed is that for Kentucky to feel good about this game, it has nothing to do with the field, nothing to do with the sport, right? It's the crowd and the atmosphere and the excitement and the fact that there maybe or maybe isn't a fake or maybe not fake quote in the LSU facility. Because to them, that means LSU's nervous about Saturday. And I've seen trap game get thrown around a lot when talking about this game this weekend. And I don't get it from this game. I can see it from the Auburn game. You're trying to get to the bye week. It's on the road. It's early. Like, I could see the Auburn game being that type of spot, right? This one, I don't see that because you're not coming off of some emotional something prior. You played McNeese the week before. It's a night game. It's sold out. It's on the road when you know you have to prove you can win on the road. I'm sniffing and I don't smell a trap game. No, I don't either. Whatsoever. Like, to me, it's very obvious what's in front of you. You have to go prove you can win on the road. It's not like Kentucky's going to catch LSU off guard, or by surprise, or that there's this sleepy game that's going to happen. No, I mean, it's going to be a night game, an opportunity for you to do something you haven't done, which is win on the road. I'm not getting trapped at all. Yeah, I'm not either. The other narrative I've seen that's being pushed is, like, I think because Kentucky came from down 17-0 against South Carolina, you're seeing people be like, well, Kentucky, they're never out of it. They're never out of it. Like, they can come back from anyone. I genuinely heard someone say yesterday, if LSU goes up 17-0, they should be terrified. Think about that. Yeah. Let's think about it. Okay. If LSU goes up three possessions early in the game, are you terrified or are you extremely happy with what's going on so far? Like, that's an insane thing to say. I understand Kentucky came back from 17 against South Carolina. Wait, so they said that if LSU goes up 17-0, LSU should be terrified? Yes. Oh. Cardiac cat. That's what I said. Kentucky should be terrified. Because the cardiac cats are never out of it. Go **** yourself, dude. Lane Kiffin, LSU, and Dylan Jones at 17-0 lead. Guess what they haven't done this year? You're telling me that you're going to force Kenny Menchie to throw the ball 45 times, and you're not going to be able to run C.J. Baxter anymore? You're going to have to get out of your offense? You're going to force Joe Sloan to be one-dimensional? Good luck, brother. I'm not scared if LSU goes up 17-0. I'm going to be really into it once it hits 17-0. Yeah. Oh, now we start. I'm also not scared if LSU goes down 17 to nothing. I would prefer that to not happen, but I watch them on the road in a crazy environment against a better team go down 17 to nothing and bring it all the way back to 24-24. Now, they ended up losing that game. Shout out to the Nuts. But it's just what you're seeing transpire, and this is why it's of the utmost importance for LSU to make a statement this weekend. And the thing is, regardless of what they say on Monday, because you know what they're going to say. On Monday, they're going to say, well, it was Kentucky. They just beat South Carolina by only one. And, I mean, you should beat Kentucky. All of those things. That's what they're going to say on Sunday and Monday, and I don't care. But this is what the conversation is all week, is that they're a program on your level, or you're a program that's dropped down a level. And you have to do this and that. and the crowd and all these things, and go shut that up. Like, that's what needs to happen this weekend is that LSU's number one goal, number one task this weekend is to shut that all up. And the way you do that is you go on the road, you go into their stadium, regardless of what they think is going to happen, regardless of how loud it is. Credit to Will Stein in Kentucky for bringing some excitement to that program. I'm all for it. I want it to be hostile. I want it to be exciting because what I also want to see is LSU do what Alabama did to Kentucky, which is roll with the punches, 17-13 at half, 32-0 in the second half. And what Alabama did was announce Kentucky's not on this tier yet. And so if you're LSU, do you want to be on the tier with Kentucky and Florida or do you want to be in the tier with Bama and Georgia where they're being talked about? And the way you do that is you handle business. you go in there and you announce there's a difference here. And so trap game, wild crowd, block K, whatever, AI graphic, all of those things. Let the narratives continue to be spewed and help you guys out with our friends over at FanDuel because the narratives are getting that number down so you can hammer it. Eight and a half. I like that. But LSU, LSU should be focused on the football facts, which is that Kentucky is the worst team in the sport at keeping drives alive on third down. 22%, number 131 in the FBS. Against Blake Baker's defense with Prince of Oman, Miellon, Deuce Gerald, T.J. Daugherty, Ty Benefield, D.J. Pickett, P.J. Woodland. Against those guys in a rush defense that's given up five yards per pop and 170 yards per game. Against Dylan Jones, Sam Leavitt, Harlan Berry, Stacey Gage. Intimidating. And credit to them. Look, I appreciate this. But elite teams and teams that LSU should be, Alabama, Georgia, they don't have to say that. They don't have to say that they're fighters and they play really hard. You know what you're getting. And so credit to Will Snyder and what he's done in Kentucky. But it's time to make a statement of, guess what? Get ready for basketball season. This football thing is for us. And the basketball thing. And it might just be the basketball thing for us, too. And the baseball thing. Because it does feel like one of those early season games where you have one of those teams that, look, it's a nice story. It's cool. Mississippi State versus Alabama last week. Right, exactly. And it's their Super Bowl, and they're excited. Their fan base is really, really hype. They want to get game day if Alabama and Georgia can't host it because of the hurricane, whatever. That's great. You've got to go, and you have to leave no doubt. Because guess what? Kentucky, good team. They have good football players. Guess what? At LSU, the baseline is good football players. LSU has dogs that they simply have not seen, especially on the defensive side of the ball. I know they played Alabama. I'm going to sit here and say it. Alabama's defense is not LSU's defense. They have not seen Prince William on Miel, and they have not seen T.J. Dottery and D.J. Pickett and Ty Benefield. Shout out Yonze Pierre from Alabama. We got him in our dynasty. No, Alabama doesn't have Prince William on Miel. No. They don't have T.J. Dottery and Ty Benefield. So you have to go and you show them, like you said, that you haven't stooped down to the Kentucky level. This is why you hired Lane Kiffin. You hired him to go be in that tier with Alabama and Georgia. And what do the Alabama and Georgias do when you play a team like Kentucky? You leave no doubt. And that's what Alabama did. They won 45-17, whatever. So LSU, go in there and dominate. Because there is not a matchup on the field that I look at and say, I think Kentucky has got that one. There's not a single talking head that I have heard that has confidence in Kentucky in this game. It's all like having not confidence in LSU. It's all, man, I think Sam Levitt could throw some interceptions here. Or, man, I think LSU's defense might not be able to stop Kentucky. It's not, I think Kenny Minshew's going to be great. It's not, I think Kentucky's defense and Jay Bateman can really clamp down on LSU's offense. It's all anti-LSU. If LSU, and that was the antithesis of what we were talking about the other day. If LSU goes in there and plays their best brand of football, they win this game by 30 points. I'm looking at the injury report right now. On LSU's side, zero surprises. Except maybe who's not on it. So on the list of guys that are out, everybody get your tissues ready because it's hard to hear and to read every time I do it. Trey Dez, Witt, Deshaun Spears, Phillip Wright III, Charles Ross II. Those guys all out. No surprises there. You know those guys are out. And that is it. There are no questionables, there are no probables, there are no doubtfuls. It is just those five guys out. Sam Levitt's name is the one that is obviously missing from that list with the hamstring and everything that's transpired over the last couple of weeks. He's not listed at all. Not questionable, not probable. Kentucky, however, has one guy probable, DJ Miller, wide receiver. They have three questionables, running back Jordan Colbert, a long snapper, and the defensive lineman, number 93, Kalen Edwards. And then they have one, two, three, four, five, six guys listed as out. And one, two, three, four, five of them are on the defensive side of the ball, three of those guys being linebackers. Wyatt, when you saw some of the names on this list, or the quote from Will Stein that getting kind of thin at some spots, and obviously the one you see is there's three linebackers listed as out in this game. What was your reaction? So the biggest one, well, for LSU, great that it's just the five guys we know about that are out. Sam Leavitt is not on the injury report. Now, I've kind of learned in the last couple of weeks I don't trust LSU's injury report. So maybe that I'm not saying that necessarily means that Sam Leavitt's 100%. I have a good feeling that these people are out for LSU. No, no, no, but I'm saying, like, thanks, Lloyd. You're welcome, sir. Right, but I'm saying, like, the guys that aren't on it, like, Sam Leavitt not being on there doesn't necessarily mean to me, oh, he's absolutely 100%. Like, he may actually be probable. That means he's definitely playing. Right, of course he's going to play, yeah. But for the Kentucky side of things, which is more of what I wanted to see, Tavian Wallace being out is big. He's been out for a couple of weeks now. He is their number one linebacker, so not having him is going to be big. Against a defense that has already really struggled against stopping the run, you get their best linebacker out. And then the other one is DJ Miller, who is probable. I think he was looked at as more of a questionable type guy by Kentucky people. So the fact that he's going to play helps Kentucky because they do have like a nice little wide receiver pairing with – it's D.J. Miller and Kenny Darby is the other one. Yeah. So those are some of the names on the injury report. And so obviously you heard Will Stein talk about it. He said, you know, how they're getting thin at some spots. That's obviously good news, like Wyatt said, on D.J. Miller, getting to hear his name, that he's coming back. And so I thought it was interesting. But the biggest thing for LSU is that the guys that you know are out are the ones that are out, and nobody else's name is on that list. And you're good to go to roll into Kentucky and handle business because that's what the job task is, is to go out and handle business. Right? Like, that's where this is at. It's not you need to go and you need to do all these things. It's you need to go and do what you do. Right? When we talked about LSU before the A&M game, you know, There was all this conversation about Marcel Reed. And it was, if LSU plays to LSU's level and LSU handles their business, they win. Nothing about if LSU does this to A&M, nothing about, like right now, nothing about what LSU can do to Kentucky. It's if LSU plays their brand of football, you're happy. And so I wanted to ask you guys, if y'all were to name one thing, because tomorrow we'll obviously go through our keys to victory, that whole thing. But today on Thursday, if you were to name one thing that you go and you say, if LSU does this one thing, I'm happy with the result in Lexington, Kentucky on Saturday. Get off the bus. Great point. From a Kentucky perspective, I understand why it's almost like they're learning how to become a football fan base. They're excited to have a coach in which they can kind of believe in. I mean, he was at SEC Media Days. He's like, why should people believe in Kentucky? He's like, because of me. Right. And it is somebody that needs to say something like that because, A, he's never been a head coach before, and, B, Kentucky's never really been a viable football program, but he's trying to make a statement to say that we're not just a basketball school. And you see the way that they start. Form 1 is great. They're learning a little bit about what it's like to be like, this is exciting, and to have a game at night in Kentucky at Kroger Field. Can't think of another K to complete that one. Commonwealth Stadium. Yeah, that is with a C. I get that they're like kind of like cautiously optimistic of LSU's gone on the road and lost already like you can sneak up and get them all of those things but that also works to your detriment because LSU very much so knows where they lie because of what happened already and now you have a situation in which you're not going to be slept on like LSU this is not the one LSU can't drop another one not this one like nobody's going to look and go oh yeah good Kentucky team it's a great start for them and LSU also pretty good start this is where you start separate like water finds its level right this is where the LSU needs to do what it can do and just go and not be surprised by Kentucky or anything that they do because like we've all said and I know we gave Wyatt a hard time but he wasn't wrong with LSU just really can't **** it up yeah that's all you're trying to do is don't go there and commit penalties do all the things to give them a chance to win the football game instead if you just play well, you should be fine. Yeah. And they need something to happen from Kentucky's side to be like, okay, we need this and this to have to go right, fake something, whatever it is. I'm hard-pressed to think of, like, Kentucky's home field advantage. I've never heard that before. Right. So it's not – I mean, I'm sure they're excited, but it doesn't mean it's good. No, I mean, it's going to be sold out. There's going to be people there. They're going to be excited, but it's not something you've ever seen before because you don't know about it, right? New uniforms. They're doing all the things. That's what I'm saying. They're leaning into all the excitement to do what they can to try to give themselves an advantage, like to find something that they can do to make a difference. Like Kentucky Sports Radio is grabbing quotes from Tiger Droppings about the game. No, and that's what I'm saying. They're having to lean into all of these things, and that shows you where these two teams are at. Because like Lloyd said, he's exactly right. Both teams, good starts, maybe trying to figure out who they are. This is a weekend that is very easily the opportunity to announce where you're at, who this LSU team is. To say, hey, this is the level of team we are. We go on the road in a game that they're excited about, that they have belief in, and they think they can win, and we shut that down. And we get them ready for their basketball season. That is what this game should be on Saturday for LSU. And my one thing is what I think I saw Swamp Screwball and Glimmer say in the chat. Like, put the pressure on Kenny Minchie's arm. If you do that, and look, I'm not saying he can't throw it. I don't think he's a bad quarterback whatsoever. But I think with the guys you have defensively up front, especially, like I said, I mean, talk about another football fact. Another football fact that we talked about yesterday is when it comes to the quarterback getting sacked, Kentucky's the number 107th team in the country. You know what that means? Make Kenny Minshew drop back and then see what number one's got for him. See what 99 can do. How about 29, right? See what happens then. But you can't let them establish the run, and then they can get into kind of truly who they are, right? Against A&M, when I sat and watched that game, they established the run early, and then guess what? It's very similar to, like I said, what we watched on Monday with the Falcons. They went to Bijan and Brian Robinson early, and then whenever you were biting on that, it's play action and it's dump off to a guy that's not this crazy throw, but if you're just semi-accurate, the guys are open because you're biting on the run. That's what they did against A&M. It was all delayed play action, dump it right over the top and let these guys run. It was a fake quarterback sweep to a post route to Kenny Darby. Eye candy. So if you eliminate that eye candy by not allowing them to establish the run, something that, guess what? LSU's done a pretty dang good job of doing, right? As of right now, Kentucky's rush offense is right in the middle of the pack. They're getting five yards per rush. That's 26th overall. They're running the ball 37 times a game. That's number 52 overall. But that's where they base everything off of. So shut that down and then see what mistakes you can make that quarterback make. And I promise you, that's their same mindset about you because that's the basis of both of these offenses. Make Kenny Menchie have to drop back and then go cause problems for him. Go get after him. Make him throw one up and see what these DBs can do. If you can eliminate the run game and make that offense one-dimensional, an offense that's already middle of the pack and is kind of developing who they are, and you have a defense that is not middle of the pack, you're actually the top of the pack, it allows you to get after them even more. So my one thing, don't turn the ball over. If you go and look at this Kentucky defense, and statistically they have not been that good. The one thing that they have done a good job at is being extremely opportunistic with turnovers. Against Alabama, they forced three turnovers against Alabama. Against A&M, they forced two turnovers against A&M. And they forced turnovers on downs. On downs as well in that game. They forced two turnovers against South Carolina. They beat South Carolina and Texas A&M and got outgained in those games by Texas A&M and South Carolina, which are not that good of offenses, right? If LSU just doesn't give Kentucky these bad interceptions or fumbles or whatever it is, I have no doubt that Lane Kiffin and Charlie Weis are going to be able to put points up on the board, whether it be through the run game, which South Carolina has given up 200 rush yards multiple times. Lenora Sellers, I've talked about it, had 150 rush yards last week for South Carolina. whether it's through the pass game Kentucky has not been a good pass defense either and we haven't really talked about that they gave up 250 pass yards to Youngstown State in week one they gave up 266 to South Alabama in week four so there's not a part of this defense that scares me from a matchup standpoint the only way that Kentucky in my opinion can get off the field is if you throw them the ball so if Sam Levitt and I think this is coaching as well where it's you know you have a quarterback who is a little bit turnover prone right now don't put him in spots where he's going to be able to throw them the football make sure you establish the run game make it easy on Sam Levitt don't make him be in a position where he has to go win this football game establish the run early get Dylan Jones and Harlem Berry and Stacey Gage and even Sam Levitt going with their legs allow the offensive line to feast on what is not a very good defensive line and allow Sam Levitt to just be a game manager he doesn't need to throw for 400 yards to win this football game this is a game where LSU can absolutely rush for 250 yards and if you do that I think you're in a good spot as long as you limit the turnovers do not give the Kentucky offense extra possessions because I love the matchup you have there with LSU's defense. Do not turn the football over and allow Kentucky to stay in this football game and allow their crowd to get into it as well. Those are big momentum plays, which are tough to come back from on the road in a tough environment in the SEC. No, I completely agree. Everything you just read and told me sounds a lot like LSU last year. And guess who's there? Joe Sloan. You're putting yourself, and if you're not very good offensively, and you're putting yourself in spots to where it's just kind of like, oh, fortunate to win. You go down 17 and come back, but the numbers aren't very good. It's not like we're surprised by how they look offensively because of who's there. Like, well, Stein helps. But it's also like those numbers that when you're giving up 250 yards to Youngstown State but also getting outgained, that's a tough way to live. And LSU tried to live that life last year where you look up and go, well, maybe you can win this way. That's not really sustainable. It's not sustainable. And you go into, and that's another thing that we haven't really talked about or given the credit that it probably deserves, is looking at LSU and look at where they're ranked in the SEC offensively. Like, look at the things that Lane Kiffin has come in and done already that people, I don't know if they're taking it for granted just because everywhere he's been, the offense works. But look at what you have on the offensive side and the defensive side. And we can talk about it until you're blue in the face about complimentary football. well, ******* watch it. It's pretty good. And that's what happens whenever you have a Blake Baker-led defense and Lane Kiffin on offense that this is probably what it was supposed to look like and people just don't want to talk about it yet. And Kentucky could be very much a statement game because it is going to be Saturday night in Lexington. People are going to watch. And if LSU continues to do this, they're going to be too good to ignore at some points. And people are – I think a lot of this has become the narrative of who's the next upset when you look around college football. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're trying to circle the Missouri over Florida. Or the Florida over Ole Miss. And it feels like this is the next one up. This is the thing. Alabama Georgia just good football game. Like there's nobody really left on the docket to be like, well, what would be a fun upset? Right. And LSU didn't play anybody last week. It's not that – there's no – this game. There's no emotional – It's not a look-ahead spot. Right, right. Yeah. No, that's the thing. When I hear the word trap game thrown around about this game, it just doesn't fit any of the criteria for a trap game. They want it to be, though. Don't step on that banana. It's a night game. Oh, no. Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow. Fix it. It's a night game. Grab it by the base. There is all of the conversation around it. And to me, the reason why it's not a trap game for LSU more than anything else is there is something in front of you in this game on Saturday that you can do that you've not done yet. And that is go on the road and win. Every game you've won, you're at 4-1, all four games you've won are at home. You can go win a game on the road because the one game on the road that you played was that game against Ole Miss in Oxford, and you lost. And so there's an opportunity. That's why it's not a trap game because there's a box you can check that's unchecked this weekend. And so that's when I look at it. Like, it is everything from my, where I'm sitting at looking at it. It's just such an easy opportunity to go handle business. And like Lloyd said, announce who you are. Because there's a lot of question marks around LSU right now. I think that's why they're at 10. And they're kind of, when you look at the SEC, they're maybe around four or five overall when people look at them. Because they're like, I don't know, right? Because their wins are against two nobodies in Tech and McNeese and two extremely dysfunctional programs in Clemson and A&M. And then they look at the Ole Miss game and they're like, the only team they played that's actually good, they lost to. And then that team lost right after. So it's like, I don't know who LSU is. And I'm not saying from the national media perspective that that's going to change on Saturday because I think they're going to find ways to discredit whatever happens. But it's an opportunity to sit back and go, what do the teams that they've crowned and they've said are this tier, what do they do? And the one I'll continue to use the example is Alabama because that's the team right now. It's the bell of the ball right now because of what they did last weekend. And last weekend for Alabama is what I'm kind of comparing this weekend for LSU as. Mississippi State and Camario Taylor were the child prodigy, right? They were the one everyone wanted to see play. They wanted to see Camario Taylor and Mississippi State announce themselves to the nation of like, oh, they're real. And the way you do that is by having Alabama come into your stadium and battle with them and maybe see if you can pull off an upset. And Alabama just straight up said no. Like, just didn't let that happen and went and dominated them and showed you the tier difference between the two. The conversation this week is, man, Kentucky has a real opportunity to prove they're a real program if they go out there and they get an upset over a traditional power in LSU and Lane Kiffin and Sam Levin and all these things, if they do that, then we can actually give Kentucky the credit they deserve. Crazy. If Kentucky can do that on Saturday, we can actually give them the title of a legitimate football program. And so guess what? The pressure's on you, LSU. Show them there's a difference. Show them that you're not on that tier. Do what Bama did to Mississippi State. It ain't the same thing over here. This story is fun and exciting and awesome for Kentucky. LSU's got business to handle. It ain't about stories. It's not about narratives. It's about football. And that's what the theme of what this show has been talking about the last two days is to block out the narrative noise, block out the narrative nerves, the narrative itself, shut it up, and focus on the football facts. And the football facts are all these numbers we read out to you yesterday where Kentucky's not that good and LSU's really good.