The Tennessee Volunteers are just now under two weeks away from welcoming Lane Kiffin back to Knoxville once again. Tennessee’s former head coach will be roaming the opposing sideline one more time, this time as the head coach of LSU.
Kiffin famously left Tennessee after just one season at the helm, taking his ‘dream job’ at USC. The sudden decision left Tennessee scrambling after a promising first season, eventually ending with the hire of Derek Dooley. Kiffin would flame out at USC after just a few
seasons.
Kiffin’s long, winding road back took him to Nick Saban’s coaching rehab program, then FAU, then Ole Miss. He took the LSU job and left the Rebels ahead of a playoff run last year, further cementing his villain status in the college football universe.
His first return to Knoxville as a head coach was nothing short of wild. His second comes next weekend. It’ll be a 3:30 p.m. ET kickoff inside of a sure to be rocking Neyland Stadium, very likely with Tennessee’s postseason chances on the line.
The league announced all of next weekend’s kickoff times this afternoon.
This will be Tennessee’s final regular season game inside of Neyland Stadium, which means the Vols only got one night-time conference kickoff time all season long. Georgia at South Carolina got the nod for the ABC primetime kick during this particular week.
Tennessee last faced LSU back in 2022, where the Volunteers dismantled Jayden Daniels and the Tigers, 40-13. LSU was last in Knoxville during the 2017 season, playing in an ugly monsoon against the Brady Hoke led Volunteers (there’s a future trivia question answer for you).
LSU will host Texas this week after being blown out by Alabama on Saturday. Tennessee will travel to Texas A&M.
