"Shocker" - Lane Kiffin visibly disappointed after LSU gets two ABC night games in single season

The No. 19 Ole Miss Rebels under coach Lane Kiffin recovered from their narrow 29-26 defeat to the LSU Tigers in Death Valley by beating the Oklahoma Sooners 26-14 in Week 9. The Rebels improved to 6-2 and kept their dimming hopes for the SEC championship game and a College Football Playoff spot alive.

During his weekly news conference on Monday, the charismatic coach was not pleased with the newly released SEC schedule which granted his 19th-ranked team an early start time against the second-ranked Georgia Bulldogs on Nov. 9 while giving the No. 16 LSU Tigers another night game when they host the No. 14 Alabama Crimson Tide.

“So, who went at night? LSU gets to play at night again, I guess? Shocker,” Kiffin said. “That’s two for two (ABC night games) for them. Yeah, I mean, I think that’s proven over time in the NFL and college, you know. Playing at night in electric atmospheres is a home-field advantage. Tough when you’ve got to do that as an opposing team

"So, that’s been proven for a long time. … It is an advantage. I feel bad for our fans not having one night conference game. It’s really unfortunate for them. So, whatever. It’s just really disappointing, but it is what it is.”

Lane Kiffin's "night games" rant checks out

Lane Kiffin will face Kirby Smart's Georgia Bulldogs on November 9 in a clash with permutations for the SEC championship game. The game will start at 3:30 ET while the embattled coach Kalen DeBoer will lead his Alabama Crimson Tide to Baton Rouge in a night game (7:30 p.m.) at the LSU Tigers.

During the Rebels' game against the Tigers two weeks ago, Brian Kelly's team won in overtime in what was a boisterous night atmosphere in the famed Death Valley.

The Ole Miss Rebels have had only one night game in Oxford this season, their season-opening 76-0 win over the Furman Paladins. They have been involved in two other night games away from the Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, and none of their season-closing games will be held at night either including their last two games against the Georgia Bulldogs and the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

The claims by Lane Kiffin are borne out by facts with the Rebels' two Southeastern Conference games against the Kentucky Wildcats and the Oklahoma Sooners both starting at noon.

When SEC games were aired on CBS in a deal that ended last year, games aired at 3:30 p.m. were considered "Games of the Week" and were "the highest-rated regular-season college football package on any network for 14 consecutive seasons," according to Yahoo Sports. But that changed to night games this season when the ABC/ESPN duopoly took charge of the exclusive rights.

When CBS had the SEC contract for nearly three decades, the network had the first choice of SEC games but had only two doubleheaders in any season (while enjoying a conference-exclusive 3:30 p.m. kickoff slot).

Meanwhile, the LSU-Alabama games have traditionally drawn massive ratings while playing at night on CBS in almost every meeting since 2011.

Four of the top eight ratings draws in CBS history involved LSU and Alabama. Three of those were at night. The lone exception was the 2019 game, when No. 2 LSU beat No. 3 Alabama 46-41 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, en route to the national championship game, with the slot unavailable. That remains the most-watched SEC on CBS broadcast.

LSU traditionally plays at night, only kicking off in the afternoon when made to do so by television networks.