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Research conducted by BetOnline Sports and Casino found that Louisiana is the only state where fans are predominantly rooting for LSU.
The sportsbook analyzed more than one million tweets, hashtags and key phrases to gauge which team fans across the country are supporting in Saturday’s matchup.
Josh Barton with BetOnline Sports and Casino says LSU’s new head coach, Lane Kiffin, is a major reason the Tigers have become a target of national fan sentiment.
“Lane Kiffin, love him or hate him, he’s become the most polarizing figure in maybe not in just college football, but sports in the moment,” Kiffin said.
The study searched for phrases on social media such as “Ole Miss better upset LSU” and “We’re all rooting against Kiffin” to determine that a majority of fans in every other state are rooting Ole Miss in this Top 10 matchup.
Barton says Kiffin’s move from Ole Miss to LSU has helped turn the Tigers into one of college football’s most talked-about teams — and a team many fans outside Louisiana will be rooting against Saturday night.
“Certainly, he has become villainized in a lot of different circles and I think given the situation everything that happened last season, moving on (from Ole Miss), taking the bigger paycheck everybody looks at him as a villain and is going to be rooting against him,” Barton said.
And while having a large portion of the country against you may not sound like a positive, Barton says there can be benefits to being one of college football’s most polarizing teams.
“The guy is a great coach, a master marketer as well; he’s got a great team around him. I think doing that is putting a lot of eyeballs on your Tigers there, which is a good thing,” Barton noted.
The LSU-Ole Miss game kicks off Saturday night at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
