First-year LSU football head coach Lane Kiffin defended his decision to dial back the offense late in Saturday night’s 22-21 home loss to No. 8 Texas at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge. The No. 24 Tigers built a 21-10 lead in the third quarter before going scoreless the rest of the night, allowing Texas quarterback Arch Manning to hit running back Raleek Brown for a 4-yard touchdown pass with 3 seconds left.
The defeat drops LSU to 6-4 overall and 3-4 in the Southeastern Conference, virtually eliminating the Tigers from contention for the 12-team College Football Playoff after they entered the weekend ranked No. 14 by the CFP committee and No. 22 in the Coaches Poll. Texas, ranked No. 8 in both the Associated Press and Coaches polls and No. 6 by the CFP committee, improved to 8-2 overall and 5-2 in SEC play to stay in the race for the conference title game.
“Really disappointing to be up two scores in the game and not being able to close it out,” Kiffin said afterward. “We outplayed them to win the game, but that’s not how it works.”
Why Lane Kiffin leaned on the LSU football defense
According to the official box score, LSU outgained Texas 366 yards to 273, posting 244 passing yards and 122 rushing yards against 174 passing yards and 99 rushing yards for the Longhorns. It marked the second straight loss in which the Tigers significantly outgained their opponent, following a pattern of stalled drives inside the red zone (the area inside the opponent’s 20-yard line).
LSU converted just 2 of 5 red-zone trips and missed a 38-yard field goal by Scott Starzyk at the end of the first half, while Texas went 4-for-4 in the red zone and got field goals of 42, 41, and 50 yards from kicker Gianni Spetic. Tigers quarterback Sam Leavitt threw for 244 yards and two first-half touchdowns to Jackson Harris, who finished with eight catches for 64 yards, but Texas safety Jelani McDonald intercepted Leavitt three times, including once in the end zone before halftime. Those three takeaways pushed Leavitt’s season total to 12 interceptions through 10 games, while McDonald also tied linebacker Rasheem Biles for the game lead with 11 tackles.
In his postgame remarks transcribed by Sports Illustrated, Kiffin explained that Leavitt’s three turnovers convinced him to play conservatively rather than force passes downfield once running back Dilin Jones broke a 44-yard touchdown run in the third quarter to put LSU ahead 21-10. The plan was to lean on a Tiger defense that intercepted Manning three times—twice by safety Ty Benefield and once by cornerback DJ Pickett—and pressure the Texas quarterback into mistakes.
“So I get it. I get my questions, but I also know that one play difference and then none of these questions happen. So that’s part of understanding coaching and how it works,” Kiffin said. He told reporters per the Associated Press that while Texas had a strong roster, LSU still had work ahead to become a dominant team that did not play such close games, adding that being seven seconds away from winning did not change the loss.
How Arch Manning led the late Texas comeback
Texas opened the night with an 11-play, 75-yard touchdown drive capped by Manning’s 1-yard quarterback keeper, according to Texas Athletics. Leavitt answered with touchdown passes of 10 yards and 9 yards to Harris to give LSU a 14-10 halftime edge after Spetic’s 42-yard second-quarter kick. After Jones stretched the margin to 11 points in the third quarter, Spetic connected from 41 yards and 50 yards in the fourth quarter to trim the deficit to 21-16.
Getting the ball back at their own 42-yard line with 2:19 remaining, the Longhorns marched 58 yards in 12 plays. On the final snap before time expired, Manning found Brown along the left sideline for the decisive 4-yard score with 3 seconds on the clock. The Associated Press and Google Sports Data credited Manning with 19-of-35 passing for 174 yards, one touchdown, and three interceptions alongside 12 carries for 35 yards, though a live Real Sports App feed listed him at 18-of-32 for 170 yards prior to the final 4-yard scoring throw.
“Credit Texas for driving down and winning at the end of the game, in a really hard-fought game where both teams played really hard,” Kiffin said. Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian praised Manning’s toughness and competitive spirit to the Associated Press after the game, noting how the quarterback shook off three earlier interceptions to lead the final drive against LSU’s defense.
Turnovers, penalties and the SEC picture
The game also drew fan debate over a second-quarter roughing-the-passer penalty against Texas linebacker Brad Spence. On an incomplete third-and-5 pass from the LSU 30-yard line, officials flagged Spence for a 15-yard penalty that moved the ball to the LSU 45 and gave the Tigers an automatic first down instead of forcing a punt.
Saturday’s comeback was the Longhorns’ second double-digit come-from-behind victory of the 2026 season and came after a nationwide FAA ground stop on Friday delayed the team’s flight, forcing Texas to land in Baton Rouge at midnight ahead of Saturday’s 6:30 p.m. CST kickoff. Manning’s late rally in Baton Rouge also echoed earlier Tiger Stadium comebacks engineered by his grandfather Archie Manning for Ole Miss in 1968 and by his uncle Eli Manning.
Addressing the gap between his first-year program and Sarkisian’s veteran Texas squad, Kiffin pointed to roster and special teams depth, noting that Texas took time to build under Sarkisian as well. “I’m concerned that we lost. I’m not concerned about the future. I said it weeks before, when we were winning, you know, that we’ll have better rosters, and that’s no horrible reflection on these players. We just will,” Kiffin said.
Next Saturday, Nov. 21, LSU travels to face No. 9 Tennessee, while Texas returns to Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin to host Arkansas at 2:30 p.m. CST.