LSU football coach Lane Kiffin has made no secret of his frustration with the SEC's nine-game conference schedule.
He hates it even more now that the Tigers have lost several players to season-ending injuries and their top playmakers on offense and defense, Trey’Dez Green and Whit Weeks are out for several weeks.
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Now, LSU has a chance to catch its breath.
The Tigers are home on Saturday night to face McNeese, an FCS opponent, giving Kiffin an opportunity to rest some starters and get valuable playing time for backups before LSU resumes its difficult SEC schedule.
Kiffin indicated Monday that he is considering limiting the workload of some starters, and potentially keeping some of them out altogether.
“I don’t know where we are going to end up on that, but we got seven conference games to go, four more road conference games, five of the seven are probably ranked, so we have to look at things differently, I feel like, because of what has happened,” Kiffin said.
One of the biggest questions is whether quarterback Sam Leavitt will play.
Leavitt is dealing with a hamstring injury and Kiffin said he does not know if his starting quarterback will play against McNeese. With a difficult October ahead that includes SEC games against Kentucky, Mississippi State and Auburn, giving Leavitt an extra week to recover could be beneficial.
LSU also knows it will be without Weeks, who suffered a broken leg in Saturday night's 35-6 victory over Texas A&M.
Weeks underwent surgery Monday morning. Kiffin said Sunday that LSU would know more about the linebacker's status following the surgery, but he declined Monday to say whether Weeks' injury will end his season.
Kiffin expressed his disappointment for Weeks, who was off to an outstanding start after recovering from an ankle injury that limited him last season.
“Have this great year to get LSU fixed, to get the defense fixed, and then here it is, right in the middle of being fixed, playing great, and this happens, a freak injury of your own player going into you,” Kiffin said.
With Weeks sidelined, LSU will turn to junior linebacker Davhon Keys.
Keys has plenty of experience. He finished second in the SEC with 92 tackles last season while stepping into the lineup when Weeks missed five games.
Kiffin said he challenged Keys to play with the physicality necessary to fill the void.
“I really talked to him before he went in, this is a really big opportunity, you’ve got to play really physical,” Kiffin said. “He made the fourth-and-1 play, and that’s a really good tackle. If he gets knocked back at all, they’re going to make the first down, and he played really well. Sometimes guys do that when they have to step up.”
The “next man up” mentality is familiar around college football.
For LSU, Saturday's game against McNeese could provide an opportunity to put that mentality into practice, develop some needed depth and get healthy before the Tigers return to the grind of a nine-game SEC schedule.
