By JEREMY RAKES Associated Press
HOUSTON (AP) — Lane Kiffin was announced as the new LSU coach on Nov. 30, but before he steps foot on the sidelines in 2026, the Tigers have one more game to finish off this season.
LSU (7-5) faces Houston (9-3) on Saturday night in the Texas Bowl.
After entering the season with hopes of competing for a playoff spot, the Tigers started 5-3 and fired coach Brian Kelly.
Interim coach Frank Wilson III, who has gone 2-2 since taking over, said he’s had conversations with Kiffin regarding his future with LSU following the bowl game, but the focus is on getting through that.
“There’s a 2025 football team that I’ve been a part of, we’ve been a part of since its inception, the beginning of the season that has one more game to finish,” Wilson said. “Because of my relationship with Coach Kiffin, it allows us to have smooth transition, interaction in the building.”
Kiffin left his one-loss, playoff-bound Ole Miss team to become the coach at LSU, taking over a program that has won national titles under three of its previous four coaches.
Wilson said he expects that the players who finished the regular season would likely be the ones to play in the bowl game. He added that quarterback Garrett Nussmeier would not be available.
Nussmeier threw for 1,927 yards and 12 touchdowns with a 67% completion percentage this season but hasn’t played since Nov. 8 at Alabama because of injury. Michael Van Buren Jr., who has started the last three games, has thrown for 743 yards and five touchdowns this season.
Wilson said they’re still working through who will be available Saturday night.
“We have a couple of guys — young guys — that have played in reserve roles who have entered the portal,” he said. “Some will play. Some may not. … We are anticipating having the lion’s share of our team in quantity and quality participating.”
Weigman returning
Houston quarterback Conner Weigman announced shortly after the end of the regular season that he planned to return for his senior season.
Weigman, who transferred to Houston after two seasons at Texas A&M, threw for 2,475 yards and 21 touchdowns and rushed for 644 yards and 11 touchdowns while starting every game this season.
“I think Conner had an excellent season,” Houston coach Willie Fritz said. “We’re pumped about him coming back. We’re going to be running the same system. He’s going to be with a lot of these guys. He knows what they do good.”
No question
Unlike Notre Dame, Kansas State and Iowa State, which opted not to play in a bowl game despite being eligible, Wilson said he didn’t “know that there was discussion of not competing in a bowl game,” adding that it was never brought up to him.
“We wanted to finish what we started,” he said. “The experience for the student-athlete is the ultimate of what you’re trying to accomplish, and to take that from these young men was something that we never actually put on the table. It’s something that they wanted. It’s (something) that we as a university wanted to do to complete a season.”
Playing close to home
Houston might have a home-field advantage with the game being played at NRG Stadium, around 6 miles from campus. Houston is 6-7 all-time at NRG Stadium, home of the NFL’s Texans, but the Cougars have played in the Texas Bowl only once, losing to TCU 20-13 in 2007.
“This is a great opportunity,” Fritz said. “To be able to do it at home in the city of Houston is a huge deal. Being able to play a quality opponent like LSU is a huge deal.”
Fritz helped the Cougars make a big jump in his second year at the school since leaving Tulane after they won just four games last season.
