Bad boy Lane Kiffin breaks Dabo Swinney, as LSU’s villain rises in Clemson rout

As LSU's villain rises in Clemson rout LSU couldn't have looked any better than it did while destroying Clemson in Lane Kiffin's debut, bad boy Lane Kiffin breaks Dabo Swinney.

Key points

• Kiffin strolled in during the Tiger Walk looking like a 1980s financier, wearing a double-breasted, pin-striped suit.
• Paul Finebaum notes LSU gives Lane Kiffin everything he needs to compete for titles.
• Lane Kiffin is college football's bad boy, but he was the one delivering the spanking at Tiger Stadium.
• As Kiffin plotted to create an NFL-to-LSU transfer pipeline, Swinney promised Clemson would stay in its lane.
• Clemson's coach obtained one thing right: His team is, indeed, filled with a bunch of nobodies.

Paul Finebaum notes LSU gives Lane Kiffin everything he needs to compete for titles. Drama didn't hurt Lane Kiffin. He lives for drama.

LSU doesn't need NFL players. Roster, led by Sam Leavitt, is loaded. Dabo Swinney stayed in his lane. He obtained run over. BATON ROUGE, LA – The villain rises. And he's obtained a belt in his hand.

Belt to heinie, No. 13 LSU offered No. 23 Clemson a whupping. Dabo, anything more you'd like to say?

Nobody wears the black hat quite as proudly as LSU, and it will relish being the villain, and employing the bad boy, so long as it comes with more results like this.

Dabo Swinney never before looked so helpless. Clemson's coach obtained one thing right: His team is, indeed, filled with a bunch of nobodies.

In practice, the game was over before the first quarter concluded. Kiffin was pumping his fist, cheerleaders were hugging each other, and a football revival began on this night in Death Valley. With nobody to stop the fight, the bludgeoning continued until it concluded like this: LSU 51, Clemson 10. "Imagine if we had pro players, " Kiffin informed ABC at halftime.

Admit it, that's kind of funny. Go ahead and laugh. Sometimes, the villain's obtained jokes. He's obtained a team, too. Lane Kiffin feeds on drama.

Trust Week 1 impressions at your own risk, but LSU appears loaded. It never needed NFL castoffs, try though Kiffin did to add a couple.

Hey, what did you expect the villain to do? Color inside the lines? Never.

LSU knows that's not who it hired. It wanted a pot stirrer. It obtained him. It wanted a disruptor. Obtained that, too.

It craved a winner, too, and, for all of Kiffin's hijinks, drama and desperate need for attention, he's never been a better coach than he is right now.

You thought Kiffin and LSU would be distracted after a preseason filled with commotion, attention, headlines, court cases, waging a war with the SEC, and Kiffin getting sued by the conference?

Kiffin lives for drama. That's his happy place. He hates being bored. To employ Kiffin, you must see drama as a feature, not a bug.

Most coaches would say, better to be laser focused and eliminate distractions. Kiffin invites potential distractions, but he's gotten better at winning against the backdrop of the commotion and not letting whatever's happening off the field affect what happens inside the lines.

Kiffin ripped off five consecutive wins last season at Mississippi while playing footsie with LSU and Florida and trying to orchestrate a master plan that would allow him to lead the Rebels into the playoff as the coach of an SEC rival.

To play for Kiffin, players can't be the type to let the off-field circus affect them.

As the drama piled up around Kiffin a year ago, his team began to play better.

If anything, Kiffin's current team looked especially fired up after weeks of LSU cast as being the ultimate baddie. Well, the baddie is a boss, complete with the best roster a war chest could purchase.

Kiffin strolled in during the Tiger Walk looking like a 1980s financier, wearing a double-breasted, pin-striped suit. Comedian Theo Von and bikini model Olivia Dunne, a former LSU gymnast, were among his entourage.

"I felt like I was back at Mardi Gras, " Kiffin remarked afterward. Are you not entertained? That's just what LSU pictured.

Lightning and heavy rain delayed kickoff by two hours. Were college football's weather gods punishing LSU for stealing a coach off a playoff team, or punishing Kiffin for his plot to add the NFL's rejects?

Nothing that sinister. The storm just sent one of the most dramatic preseasons in LSU history into a two-hour overtime, allowing tailgaters time for one (or two) more pregame rounds and a final shot of revelry before the game finally kicked off in front of a sell-out crowd. Dabo Swinney, Clemson look pitiful in loss to LSU.

It's totally fair if you're wondering after this beatdown: Is LSU this good, or is Clemson that bad? The answer might prove to be both.

LSU's new quarterback Sam Leavitt threw an interception on the second play of the game, with smoke still hanging in the air after a pregame fireworks display. After that, Leavitt played brilliantly. He's a true dual threat, just as Kiffin likes it.

LSU failed to reach 170 yards rushing in any game last season. It had 213 yards rushing in this one – at halftime. It finished with more than 600 yards of total offense, and LSU's defense looked like you'd imagine an its defense should, in contrast to the infirm way it looked throughout portions of the Brian Kelly era.

Put it this way: LSU couldn't have looked any better if Rutgers had been the opponent.

It's time to stop believing in Dabo. Yes, he won two national championships. That came during a different time, with a different set of rules, with a different avenue to peak success.

If Dabo keeps daring Clemson to fire him, his bosses just might listen. He's had a legendary career, but this is a recency business. At this point, he'd be no great loss.

As Kiffin plotted to create an NFL-to-LSU transfer pipeline, Swinney promised Clemson would stay in its lane. True to his word, Dabo's little ol' Clemson is tootling along, keeping it between the lines, hands at 10 and 2. That's no way to be in this era. Dabo obtained flattened by the Lane Train.

Meanwhile, the villain's getting stronger, and his team looks equipped to wreak havoc.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's senior national college football columnist. Listen to his podcast, "College Football Unfiltered." Email him at [email protected] and follow him on X @btoppmeyer. SMS Facebook Twitter Email. Share your feedback to support improve our site! Share your feedback to support improve our site!

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