Apparently, even a 31-0 shutout win over Mississippi State wasn’t enough to make Lane Kiffin forget LSU’s 35-34 overtime loss to Kentucky. The Tigers’ head coach was back to questioning the officiating on October 17, and for good reason. Kentucky wide receiver Cash Harney appeared to move before the snap on the Wildcats’ game-winning two-point conversion, but officials ruled that coach Will Stein had called a timeout before the apparent false start. And Kiffin wasn’t about to let that one slide.

“I mean, you can keep going on the list,” Kiffin said during the October 17 postgame press conference, referring to the string of bad breaks LSU has suffered. “I said I wasn’t going to, but you got a false start that the two-point play doesn’t even happen and just doesn’t count, and you get an apology for it.”

Referee Ted Pitts ruled that Kentucky coach Will Stein had called a timeout before Cash Harney flinched, preventing a false-start penalty. Kenny Minchey then scrambled up the middle to seal Kentucky’s overtime victory. Kiffin had already made his frustration clear after the loss. “I didn’t think it was a really well-officiated game on our side,” he said.

And that wasn’t his only complaint. LSU held a three-point lead late in the first half when Kentucky faced fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line. Minchey attempted a tush push as LSU defenders fought to keep him out of the end zone. The officials allowed the play to continue, and Kentucky took a 21-17 halftime lead.

Kiffin later claimed a line judge told him there was “too much at stake” to stop the play. He wanted the SEC to review the decision and questioned why the conference keeps its officiating discussions with teams private.

But LSU wasn’t exactly blameless for the Kentucky defeat. Sam Leavitt’s turnovers hurt the Tigers, and their defense surrendered 35 points. Against Mississippi State, Leavitt finally played his first turnover-free game of the season, throwing for 289 yards and four touchdowns. “We talked a lot this week about trusting the receivers and allowing them to go make plays,” Kiffin said after the win. The defense also delivered a 31-0 shutout. So, while the coach continued questioning Kentucky’s officiating, his players had at least cleaned up some of their own mistakes.

Still, questionable calls weren’t LSU’s only headache. A growing injury list had forced Kiffin to reshuffle his lineup and rely on inexperienced backups.

“Remember, you’re seeing people play different positions than they were supposed to play,” Kiffin added. “This team was built to be a championship team with significant players as starters who, I still say, can match up with anybody if we were healthy. And when those injuries happen, it’s hard.”

But Kiffin’s injury complaints came with an interesting contradiction. Just minutes earlier, he had declared, “I don’t have a lot of empathy for injuries.” Now, he was explaining how LSU’s depleted roster had affected its championship ambitions. His point appeared to be that injuries explain the struggles without excusing them.

The Tigers had lost three players, Dashawn Spears, Charles Ross II, and Phillip Wright III, to season-ending injuries. Wright was injured during punt coverage late in LSU’s second game against Louisiana Tech.

And while Kiffin acknowledged the damage to LSU’s depth chart, he wasn’t exactly asking anyone to feel sorry for the Tigers.

“I know people are going to talk about injuries, and that will be a storyline,” Kiffin said. “But there isn’t a team in America that has more significant players standing on the sideline than us,” he added. “So, not a lot of pity there.”

And that last remark didn’t sit well with everyone. Sports commentator Rivers Hughey called out Kiffin on X for seemingly dismissing Mississippi State’s injury problems.

“I’m sorry, but Lane Kiffin acting like Kamario Taylor and Fluff Bothwell being out didn’t matter is INSANE to me,” she wrote. Mississippi State was missing its starting quarterback and one of its top offensive players, but Kiffin’s postgame comments focused heavily on LSU’s depleted roster.

Hughey argued that acknowledging those absences wouldn’t take anything away from the Tigers’ 31-0 win.