Lane Kiffin knows what everyone wants to talk about.

He also knows what he wants his LSU football team talking about.

On Monday, as the Tigers began preparing for their first SEC game of the season, Kiffin was asked about returning to Oxford for the first time since leaving Ole Miss for LSU.

His answer was straightforward. “I know a lot is going to be made about me, but this is about the players being prepared really well and playing really well,” Kiffin said. 

For Kiffin, Saturday is certainly unusual. He will walk into the stadium where he spent the last six seasons, but this time wearing purple and gold.

For LSU, though, it is something bigger.

It is the Tigers’ first SEC test of the season. It is a matchup between two top-10 teams. And it is an opportunity for a young LSU team to prove what it can do when the environment gets loud and the stakes get higher.

Kiffin has made sure his players understand that distinction.

“Pete isn’t going to tackle anybody. I’m not going to throw any touchdowns,” he said.

The message is simple: coaches can prepare. Players have to play.

And LSU’s players are walking into Oxford 2-0 after opening the season with a statement win over Clemson before handling Louisiana Tech.

Now comes the first road test of the SEC schedule; perhaps the most telling part of Kiffin’s Monday press conference wasn’t about Ole Miss at all.

It was about taking the pressure off LSU.

Kiffin acknowledged that the attention surrounding his return would be unavoidable — and that some of it would be hostile.

“There’s going to be so much attention, hatred — everything — on me.” But instead of letting his players get consumed by the atmosphere, Kiffin told them to embrace their role. “You just get to go play.”

That is the mentality LSU will need Saturday.

The Tigers don’t have to answer every storyline surrounding their head coach. They don’t have to respond to every chant from the crowd. They don’t have to make the game about what happened last offseason.

They have to play football.

Kiffin repeatedly returned to the same point Monday.

Preparation.

“It won’t be about all the other stuff and all the noise and everything. It’ll be about how well we practiced, how well we prepared and then how well we played on game day.”

That becomes especially important for LSU because Saturday will be the first time this season the Tigers have faced a true SEC road environment.

Clemson provided the opening-week spotlight inside Tiger Stadium, Oxford provides something different.

The crowd will be against LSU. The attention will be enormous. And virtually every camera in college football will be pointed toward Kiffin.

But LSU’s players have already heard their coach’s message.

Ignore it.

Play.

Kiffin also addressed whether LSU can thrive in an environment where the entire stadium will be waiting for them.

His answer reflected something he believes is part of the identity of his program.

“These kids choose us. They know what they’re choosing, as much as we choose them, they choose us, too.”

That line says as much about LSU’s roster as it does about Saturday’s game.

The players who came to Baton Rouge under Kiffin knew what kind of attention would come with playing for LSU. They knew the expectations. They knew the SEC spotlight.

Now they get their first opportunity to experience it on the road.

There is no hiding from what Saturday represents.

Both teams enter 2-0. Both are ranked in the top 10. And Kiffin pointed out Monday that it is the first time in 64 years that LSU and Ole Miss have met while both ranked inside the top 10.

But for LSU, the significance goes beyond the rankings.

This is the first checkpoint of the season.

The Tigers have already shown they can handle a highly anticipated home opener. They have already shown they can take care of business against a Louisiana Tech team that entered Tiger Stadium looking to spoil the start of the Kiffin era.

Oxford presents the next question:

How does this LSU team respond when everything is against it?

Kiffin doesn’t seem interested in answering that question for his players.

He wants them to answer it themselves.

“This is about our guys in their first SEC game.”

And perhaps that is the best way to look at Saturday.

Yes, Lane Kiffin is returning to Oxford, the atmosphere will be different and everyone will have an opinion about what this game means.

But once the ball is kicked off, Kiffin’s history in Oxford won’t score a touchdown.

It won’t make a tackle, it won’t throw a pass.

As Kiffin said Monday: “I’m not going to tackle anybody. I’m not going to throw any touchdowns.”

LSU’s players will, and Saturday night, that’s the only part of the story that ultimately matters.