Lane Kiffin roasts Clemson with LSU leading by 28: 'Imagine if we had pro players'

Lane Kiffin had little reason to be upset at halftime of his first game as LSU 's football coach, with the Tigers beating Clemson by 28, but before he went back to the locker room, he had one more thing he wanted to say to the millions of fans tuning in.

At the end of his halftime interview with ESPN's Holly Rowe, and as he was walking away from the camera, Kiffin turned around to deliver a final message.

"It took everything not to say 'Imagine if we had pro players,'" Kiffin said before running off to the tunnel at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

For the past several weeks, Kiffin has occupied a familiar role as one of college football's villains, as two of his former players at Mississippi — tight end Dae'Quan Wright and defensive lineman Zxavian Harris — have fought to become eligible to play for LSU this season after signing NFL contracts earlier this year.

The two were part of a lawsuit that ended with a Louisiana judge granting a temporary restraining order and opening the door for them to commit to Kiffin, their coach at Ole Miss before he left for LSU after the 2025 regular season. Even after the SEC passed a rule prohibiting former professional players from playing at member schools, a Louisiana judge approved a preliminary injunction on Thursday, Sept. 3 that prohibits the SEC and NCAA from punishing schools for suiting up ex-pros.

LSU dominates Clemson without pro players

Despite the favorable court ruling, Kiffin did not add Wright and Harris to the Tigers' roster for their season-opener, though it's possible he could do so for games later this season (even as soon as next week's matchup against Louisiana Tech).

"That wasn't easy. As much as I feel for the players, and I believe that you fight for what you believe in, and I believe that these kids have an opportunity to play, just like all the other kids around the country who are winning court cases and being put on rosters," Kiffin said during an appearance on "College GameDay" on Saturday . "But at the same time, I'm the head coach of LSU and I had to make a decision that is for the big picture for LSU and the LSU football program, with the uncertainties of what potentially could have come by adding them to the roster."

Even without those two, neither of whom were projected to start, LSU was leading Clemson, 31-3, at halftime and were outgaining coach Dabo Swinney's Tigers by a 336-54 margin. The score was that lopsided despite an LSU opening-drive interception that gave Clemson a short field and, ultimately, a field goal and a missed 48-yard LSU field goal in the second quarter.

"We'll go in and we'll make adjustments," he said to Rowe. "We've got to play better in the second half. We can't give away something like the first turnover, man. This should be 38-0."