Kiffin's Job on the Line? Ole Miss-LSU Looms Amid Texas Tech and Oklahoma Stakes

There are very few things in life that can stir emotions within you like college football . For four months a year, millions of Americans decide to put their mental well-being in the hands of a collection of 18- to 24-year-old men they do not know personally. All they know is that they've chosen to wear their preferred uniform. Sometimes this decision brings joy. Other times it brings pain.

But what it always brings as kickoff draws near every week is anxiety. There's always the nervous energy of the unknown heading into a game. You can never be sure how things will go, and where the rollercoaster will take you. However, while we all feel it, some of us feel it more than others, and each week, The Anxiety Rankings aim to find the five most anxious places in the country.

Welcome to Week 3. Try to stay calm. You'll fail, but try all the same.

1. Lane Kiffin

Somehow, someway, college football's main character has found a way to make himself the center of attention this week. Well, alright, considering LSU is going to Oxford to play Ole Miss this weekend, there was no way on Earth that Lane wasn't going to be the center of attention.

But we have to give Kiffin credit for making things even more interesting.

The LSU injury report that was released Wednesday night had a huge surprise on it. Sam Leavitt , who played nearly the entirety of LSU's 45-14 win over Louisiana Tech , was listed as "doubtful." Leavitt seemed fine in the postgame Saturday, and no reports were coming out of Baton Rouge from people who cover the program every day that there was any kind of injury concern.

But there he was. Not "probable" or "questionable", but "doubtful." Players who have been listed as doubtful in the short history of college injury reports rarely play that week. Yet few believed it to be a real injury. It was obviously another case of Lane being Lane, and flaunting rules and regulations for his own personal amusement.

ChatGPT probably told him it'd be funny.

As for what Leavitt's injury was, multiple reports seeped out over the next 24 hours. He hadn't thrown in practice because his shoulder or arm was sore. By Thursday, it was back spasms. By Thursday night, the miracles of modern medicine won out, and Leavitt was upgraded to "questionable ." As for whether it's real, given Leavitt's injury history, it can't be ruled out. But given Kiffin's history, and all the drama surrounding this week's game (let's not ignore the fact that Ole Miss is serving papers to LSU players as part of an ongoing lawsuit this week, too), it's hard to believe any of it's real.

It's probably a designed distraction, because that's the way Kiffin operates. While most coaches preach to their team the importance of avoiding distractions, Kiffin seeks them out. He uses them to his advantage. And this week, I can understand the impulse.

Let's make one thing clear here: Lane Kiffin and LSU have far more to lose this week than Ole Miss does. Kiffin chose to leave Ole Miss for LSU because he felt he had a better chance to compete for national titles at LSU, even though Ole Miss was in the midst of a playoff run and LSU has barely sniffed a playoff berth since winning it all in 2019. It's a justifiable belief given the history of the programs, but what if LSU loses this game?

What if the QB who didn't follow Lane to Baton Rouge outplays the one who supposedly needs a minor miracle to play? It's not as if things will get any easier for the Tigers after this game. If they lose, they have to pick themselves up off the mat and face No. 9 Texas A&M next week. They've also got games left against No. 10 Alabama , No. 1 Texas and No. 15 Tennessee .

What if Lane left Ole Miss for greener pastures only to lose to Ole Miss and go on to miss a College Football Playoff berth, while the Rebels -- who would have wins over LSU and Louisville already, and a schedule that looks a bit kinder at the moment -- returned to it?

Kiffin can remain friends with Pete Golding and other members of the Ole Miss staff, but do you honestly believe he's rooting for them to succeed without him? I don't. I think he'd prefer it if Ole Miss fell back to mediocrity just so it proves that he was the only reason for the program's success.

There's a lot more on the line for Kiffin this week than just a win or a loss. No wonder he wants so many distractions.

2. Texas Tech

Texas Tech has spent a lot of money the last couple of years to put itself in the spotlight, and this weekend it'll have it. The Red Raiders host Houston on Friday night in a battle of two ranked teams looking to win a Big 12 title this year. Unfortunately for Texas Tech, after an offseason of negative headlines, the team's performance through two weeks hasn't done much to wash it away.

It's becoming clear why they were fighting so hard to keep Brendan Sorsby eligible.

Tech has played Abilene Christian and Oregon State , and though it's won both games, it's looked a little ordinary, especially in comparison to last year's team. In 2025, Texas Tech started the season 6-0 and won by 35.3 points per game. None of their first six games finished with a margin smaller than 24 points.

This year they beat Abilene Christian by 23, and followed it up with an 11-point win over Oregon State after trailing early in the fourth quarter. The offense currently ranks 63rd nationally in points per drive and 70th in success rate. On the defensive side of the ball, things have looked better, but not to the elite level of last season. They rank 37th in points allowed per drive, but their success rate is 16th. The problem has been allowing big plays.

Well, on Friday night they play a Houston team that's looked much better against a very similar schedule. It even includes a common opponent: Oregon State. Yet Houston's offense, which returned a lot from last year's team, has gotten off to a much better start. The 4.78 points per drive the Coogs are scoring ranks second nationally, behind only Indiana .

What if that continues on Friday night? What if Tech loses? Remember, the last time Tech played in a spotlight game was its playoff loss to Oregon . It was a shutout, 23-0. In a sport where perception plays an outsized role -- perception is the lifeblood of polls -- losing on Friday night would do a lot of damage to how the program is perceived. People will openly wonder if last year was a fluke.

Something else worth considering? Tech played four Big 12 games at home last season and was favored by at least 13.5 points in all of them. That includes a home game against the BYU team that was their primary challenger. They're only a 7.5-point favorite against Houston. The odds project a one-score game. Last year the Raiders were only involved in one of them. They were without Behren Morton at QB and had to turn to current starter Will Hammond when they went on the road and lost to Arizona State . They finished with only 276 yards of offense in what was their worst performance of the season until the Oregon loss.

Meanwhile, close games are nothing new to Houston. They played in seven last year and went 6-1. Nobody won more close games than the Coogs. They're the more experienced team overall, and they have more experience in close games than the Red Raiders.

You know Galaxy Stadium (incredible name for the stadium, by the way) will be energy-filled come kickoff on Friday, but plenty of it will be nervous energy.

3. Louisville

It's extremely rare to be in a can't-lose situation in Week 3 of the season, but that's where No. 23 Louisville finds itself right now. The Cardinals host No. 16 SMU on Saturday afternoon, and there's a lot on the line.

Assuming Miami will take at least one of the two spots available in the ACC Championship Game -- not a given, but also, it feels like a given -- this game essentially serves as an ACC knockout game. The Cardinals and Mustangs could be the next two best teams in the conference, and the winner here picks up what could be a crucial head-to-head tiebreaker over the other. It's hard to imagine a scenario where an ACC team gets an at-large playoff berth without at least appearing in the ACC title game.

If Louisville doesn't get there, it's almost hopeless. They handled themselves well in a thrilling 41-38 loss to Ole Miss to open the season, but after this week there isn't another marquee game on the schedule. There are no opponents left to play who are currently ranked. Hell, the only team on the schedule that even received a vote in the AP Top 25 poll was Pitt, and they appeared on one ballot — at No. 25.

So if the Cardinals want to win the ACC or reach the playoff, this is a must-win game in Week 3. That's a lot of pressure this early in the season.

4. Greg Schiano

It feels like Greg Schiano's time as Rutgers coach is already over; we just don't have a final date yet. The Knights are 0-2, and it's not as though they had a rough start to the season schedule-wise. They began the season losing at home by 16 to a UMass team that went 0-12 last year. They followed it up with a 28-21 road loss to a Boston College team that went 2-10.

If Rutgers wanted to reach a bowl game this season, those were two absolute must-haves, and you have to believe getting to a bowl was important for Schiano's hold on the job. He's in his seventh season during his return stint to the school. There's no question he's been the most successful coach in the program's history, but it's a program moving in the wrong direction. After posting consecutive seven-win seasons in 2023 and 2024, the Knights fell to 5-7 last year and probably won't match five wins this year.

Not when you're 0-2, and USC is coming to town this week. Oh, and then after a game against Howard , you've got to deal with the defending national champion Indiana Hoosiers. There's a very real chance the Knights will have their doors blown off them in their first two Big Ten games, but while that was the likely result before the season started, those two losses were supposed to drop them to 3-2 on the season by that point. They weren't supposed to be 1-4.

I don't think Rutgers wants to move on from Schiano, but it may not feel like it has any other choice soon.

5. John Mateer

Is there anybody in the country who needs a bounceback game more than John Mateer right now? To be blunt, Mateer was awful in Oklahoma 's 17-10 loss at Michigan last week. It's not just the interception he threw, but the other plays he missed. There have been plenty of times Mateer seems to be the Oklahoma offense, putting the unit on his back and carrying them to victory.

Oklahoma being so reliant on Mateer is not his fault, and it speaks more to a failure to build the unit around him. That said, what's fair doesn't really mean much when it comes to results, and when things don't go well, Mateer is the one who has to wear it more often than not. And he's been wearing it all week. He's been criticized by the national media, as well as the local. Fans on message boards and social media have not been shy about their feelings.

You know he's hearing it, and you know he's champing at the bit for a chance to get things back in order. Ordinarily, this week's game against New Mexico -- sandwiched on the Sooners' schedule between Michigan and Georgia -- would be one the Sooners want to get through and move on from without suffering major injuries. But after last week's performance, Mateer needs to have a strong game against the Lobos.

It won't erase any doubts, but it'd do wonders for his confidence heading into another enormous game.

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_Originally reported by [CBS Sports](https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/college-football-anxiety-rankings-week-3-lsu-ole-miss-texas-tech/)._