Lane Kiffin grumbles as LSU chosen over Ole Miss for prime time kickoff

One fun thing about college football is that no one is ever happy about their kickoff times. 

Your school can move up a conference to play better competition, make more money and play on real TV more often, but fans will complain if the time is too early. Unless you're the Pac-12 (RIP), who often complained if they played late too often. 

If you take TV's money (and they all do), you play when TV tells you to play. End of story. 

That doesn't stop people from complaining about their start times, and Lane Kiffin was the latest. 

The SEC announced kick times for games on Nov. 9 on Monday, with No. 2 Georgia at No. 19 Ole Miss set for a 3:30 p.m. ET kick while No. 14 Alabama at No. 16 LSU will kick at night. Getting passed over for a night kick in favor of LSU did not sit well with the Ole Miss head coach. 

"I think that's proven over time in NFL and college, playing at night in electric atmospheres is a home field advantage, and it's tough when you've got to do that as an opposing team. That's been proven for a long time," Kiffin said.

That statement demands further statistical analysis, but that's a conversation for another day. 

"So, who went at night? LSU gets to play at night again, I guess? Shocker. That's two for two for them," Kiffin said.

Ole Miss's 20-17 loss to Kentucky on Sept. 28 kicked at 11 a.m. local time, as did Saturday's win over Oklahoma. The Egg Bowl is already slated for a 2:30 local time kick on Black Friday.

LSU, meanwhile, has or will host two night games (upcoming games with Vanderbilt and Oklahoma have not been assigned times), but the Tigers have also played two road night games -- a 34-10 win at Arkansas and Saturday's 38-23 loss at Texas A&M. Ole Miss will only play one road night game all season, their 29-26 overtime loss at LSU. 

Of note, the LSU-Alabama game was for years appointment television in college football. The 2011 "Game of the Century" topped 20 million viewers, and the 2019 game was, at the time, the most-watched college football regular season game since that 2011 battle. Alabama and LSU also appeared in three of the 25 most-watched games of the first half of this season; Georgia led the list with four, while Ole Miss played in only one. 

A FootballScoop analysis of 2024 SEC kick times (on-campus games only) showed that the biggest loser is actually Georgia. All three conference road games for Kirby Smart's team thus far have been under-the-lights affairs, while both SEC games at Sanford Stadium were mid-afternoon kicks. (The Nov. 16 visit from No. 7 Tennessee seems a shoe-in for a prime time kick, though.) 

Mississippi State and Vanderbilt have also yet to play home SEC night games. 

2024 SEC home game kick times (on-campus only, not all games have been assigned times)

"I feel bad for our fans. To not have one night conference game is really unfortunate for them. So... whatever," Kiffin said. "It's just really disappointing, but it is what it is."