LSU’s season ends with a loss; now the actual enjoyable begins

The tumultuous 2025 season ended on Saturday night time in Houston with an entertaining sport, however a 38-35 loss to 21^st ranked Houston.

The contest featured the primary opening kickoff for a landing by an LSU participant since 1978 (Hokie Gajan).

Barion Brown took the opening kick 99 yards for his SEC document sixth kickoff return for a landing.

LSU additionally scored greater than 25 factors in opposition to an FBS opponent for the primary time this 12 months.

But regardless of scoring the primary 14 factors, LSU’s protection struggled to decelerate Houston’s offense, permitting 437 yards, 32 first downs, and Cougars quarterback Conner Weigman threw for 236 yards and a Texas Bowl document 4 touchdowns.

The protection failed to provide any turnovers or get any sacks.

It is the primary time LSU misplaced a sport when main by two touchdowns or extra since 2008.

LSU as soon as once more struggled to run the soccer, simply 77 yards on the bottom. Harlem Berry led all LSU rushers with 45 yards on three carries, however he barely noticed the sphere after fumbling within the second quarter.

There have been some good particular person offensive performances. Quarterback Michael Van Buren had an excellent day as he threw for 267 yards and three touchdowns. He averaged 16 yards per completion.

Tight finish Trey’Dez Green caught 4 passes for 80 yards and two touchdowns. The second landing catch was an unbelievable seize with a defender throughout him.

Kyle Parker led all LSU receivers with 7 catches for 68 yards and a landing as he figures to be an enormous a part of Lane Kiffin’s offense.

And that’s actually all that must be stated concerning the Texas Bowl, as now the Kiffin period can formally start.

His employees is in place, and he’s eagerly awaiting the opening of the switch portal on January 2^nd.

The Tigers are anticipated to be ultra-competitive. When Kiffin was employed, “The Advocate” reported LSU was ready to spend as much as $30 million yearly on Kiffin’s roster.

Kiffin was a spectator for the Texas Bowl, watching the sport from the sideline along with his son Knox. He spent a couple of minutes speaking with the ESPN TV broadcast crew within the second quarter.

During that interview, Kiffin stated that he simply spoke along with his offensive coordinator, Charlie Weiss, about switch quarterbacks. He additionally stated he’s always listening to from brokers of gamers.

“That’s the world we live in now,” Kiffin stated.

When the portal opens on Friday, I count on you’ll hear gamers committing immediately, similar to you do when the NFL and NBA free company interval opens. There have been sufficient conversations via again channels that many gamers have already agreed to an NIL deal in precept.

Signing a beginning quarterback is a big price. The Athletic’s Stewart Mandel reported that Arizona State’s Sam Leavitt, Cincinnati’s Brendan Sorsby, and Nebraska’s Dylan Raioloa might all obtain a deal between 4 and 6 million {dollars}.

Kiffin can even have to speculate closely within the offensive and defensive strains. Four beginning o-linemen for LSU have introduced their intentions to enter the switch portal, and the Tigers’ defensive position wants work after failing to get any strain on Houston’s quarterback within the Texas Bowl.

Kiffin was often called the switch portal king at Ole Miss, however it feels like at LSU, he can even lean closely on highschool recruiting.

“Like Saban said, more per capita than any other state when it comes to NFL players (from Louisiana),” Kiffin stated. “So, to keep those guys home is a huge priority. To build through high schools and add through the portal is different than what we had to do in the state of Mississippi.

“At Ole Miss, no significant players from Mississippi are on the offense at all, which is probably the best offense in college football. All those guys came in to be a part of what we were doing. So, keep the high school players here, and then add players as we did before (at Ole Miss), and that’s, you know, the sky’s the limit.”

The Texas Bowl loss to Houston closes a irritating period as former head coach Brian Kelly had a tough time maintaining with the altering world of faculty soccer.

LSU is paying Kiffin 13 million {dollars} as a result of he understands what it takes to win in as we speak’s age of faculty soccer. All the cash LSU and its supporters have put in direction of Kiffin’s wage and NIL offers might be put into motion on Friday, and it ought to end in higher occasions for the Tigers.

The previous few weeks have been just a little discouraging, listening to about all the LSU gamers who’ve introduced their plan to enter the switch portal. That all adjustments Friday, when proficient gamers from throughout the nation start to announce they’re planning to play at LSU.

Let enjoyable occasions start!