College football’s biggest “fraud” hasn’t played a game yet — and that is exactly why the label should worry LSU’s opponents.
Pro Football Network reports that rival coaches are calling LSU college football’s biggest “fraud,” with off-field drama deemed “too much of a distraction” and Lane Kiffin’s team reportedly “imploding.”
Wait. Kiffin has not coached a single LSU snap. The No. 11 Tigers host No. 23 Clemson on Saturday in Tiger Stadium, with College GameDay in town and the sport’s spotlight locked in. All of that exists before the first down. That is not the profile of a fraud. That is the profile of a team opponents are scared to face.
No one whispers “fraud” about a program with low expectations. The word only comes out when a team is supposed to be great. Rival coaches are not attacking a proven problem; they are attacking a projection. Yes, the off-field noise is real. But it is not the same as missing tackles or failing on third down — and no game has been decided by a distraction yet.
The best way to make the “implosion” talk disappear is to play football. A win over Clemson would give LSU a 1-0 start and turn all that preseason noise into nothing more than a footnote. A loss would validate every word.
That is the moment LSU gets to answer. And if the Tigers handle it, every rival coach who reached for the word “fraud” just handed Kiffin the best bulletin-board material in America.
