The Kiffin curse

Lane Kiffin’s LSU football team is ranked No. 1 in something—injuries.

Why it matters: LSU has an eye-popping $50 million roster, yet a sizable chunk of that investment is sitting idle on the injury report. Turns out the portal doesn’t sell health insurance.

Brutal reality: Anyone with even a passing interest in LSU knows injuries to key players have been the signature of Kiffin’s first season in TigerTown.

• Analytics tracker RotoWire reports no team in college football has been more impacted by injuries this season than LSU—and that was before two more Tigers were hurt against Mississippi State.
• Which is why Kiffin was in no mood to discount the Tigers’ 31-0 win against a Bulldogs team missing its starting quarterback and running back.

Walking wounded: The injury list started in the spring and has been on a heater ever since.

• Cornerback Aidan Anding and edge rusher Gabe Reliford went down in the spring.
• Receiver Phillip Wright III (leg), the top deep-ball threat, went down against Louisiana Tech.
• The Ole Miss game wasn’t just painful on the scoreboard, as Dashawn Spears, the hybrid safety-linebacker, was lost for the season (torn ACL) and tight end Trey’Dez Green suffered a knee injury and has yet to return.
• A 35-6 rout of Texas A&M cost the team Whit Weeks (broken leg), the team’s emotional leader and defensive captain, and fellow linebacker Charles Ross II (torn ACL).
• Quarterback Sam Leavitt, who missed spring recovering from Lisfranc foot surgery and dealt with back spasms the week of the Ole Miss game, injured his hamstring against the Aggies and, though still playing, remains limited.
• Saturday’s shutout came with a tab: sack leader Princewill Umanmielen (head injury) and receiver Jackson Harris (ankle) did not return.

And then this: Remember Kiffin’s crusade to add ex-NFL players Dae’Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris? He drew an SEC lawsuit for it, then filled the last two roster spots with players who were already hurt.

• Anding and Reliford, both done for the year, took those spots Sept. 8.
• LSU President Wade Rousse then sent the SEC a letter saying the two would never be rostered, and the conference pulled its expulsion vote.

The bottom line: With LSU clinging to its playoff life, Kiffin might consider recruiting a French Quarter Voodoo priestess to lift the injury curse. One thing is certain: a little gris-gris wouldn’t hurt.