Josh Pate Points Out Major Concerns With Lane Kiffin’s LSU After Transfer Portal Overhaul

LSU Tigers head coach Lane Kiffin speaks to the press during SEC Football Kickoff Media Day at the Tampa Marriott. © Imagn

LSU is coming in hot for the 2026 college football season, with new head coach Lane Kiffin also beginning the season with a ton of hype. He comes with an extensive resume, as shown by his winning record at Ole Miss, as he has turned the program around. The question is, are they worth the hype?

During an episode of the Bussin’ With The Boys podcast, Josh Pate discussed LSU and admitted that they are certainly a strong contender to win that national title. However, he also pointed out that there may still be a few concerns that remain to be addressed.

“They could be a nasty team. So, the only team worse than Alabama at rushing the ball in the SEC last year was LSU” he said. “But LSU went out and took proactive measures to fix that. You mentioned the offensive line acquisitions. If the offensive line is good for them, they should be good enough at tailback. They could be a nasty team this year.” (1:34:02)

As for the major concerns, Pate noted that LSU has a very portal-heavy team. This could lead to some chemistry issues, as well as questions about how the team might perform in the long run.

“With any portal-heavy team, you’re always going to ask: How does this talent mesh together? It feels like that’s a little bit of an overused doubting point these days. It’s going to work to some degree, I think,” he said. “The follow-up question is: Is this the kind of team that needs a long runway to get up to speed? Because they don’t really have it. They play three “losable” games in their first four weeks—because I count Clemson as a losable game.”

Pate added that there is also the question of whether LSU got the right players during the portal, before saying that he believes that they did.

New LSU Coach Lane Kiffin Admits He Regretted ‘Messy’ Ole Miss Exit

While Lane Kiffin is looking forward to the new season, he also expressed some regrets from his previous one. He infamously left Ole Miss while they were about to go on that playoff run of theirs to LSU. On Thursday, he spoke with ESPN and admitted he does have some regrets regarding how he left his former team.

“Yeah, I do,” he said. “But I think that’s a good thing that I look at life that way now, instead of saying, ‘No, I don’t. I was right.’ I look at things always now, like, how could I have done them better? But it’s also easier when you’re further removed. There’s no emotion involved.”

The Rebels were 11-1 in the regular season under him, and he is now enemy No. 1 over at Oxford after suddenly leaving.

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