The Lane Kiffin Era at LSU will open with the most attractive home schedule in Tiger Stadium history in 2026 as the Tigers welcome Southeastern Conference foes Alabama, Texas, Texas A&M, and Mississippi State to Death Valley in 2026.

The SEC announced the league schedule for all 16 teams on Thursday night on the SEC Network.

LSU’s home schedule features four SEC games along with three non-conference opponents, including the season-opener against Clemson on Sept. 5. The Clemson contest will serve as a return game from this year’s season-opener when LSU posted a 17-10 victory at Clemson.

After hosting Louisiana Tech in week 2, the Tigers open SEC play at Ole Miss on Sept. 19 in what will be the earliest meeting ever between LSU and the Rebels. The LSU-Ole Miss game will mark the return to Oxford for Kiffin, who coached the Rebels for six seasons and most recently led the Rebels to the finest regular-season in program history.

LSU opens its home conference slate the following week when the Tigers host Texas A&M on Sept. 26 in what will be back-to-back trips to Tiger Stadium for the Aggies.

Following a non-conference matchup against in-state opponent McNeese on Oct. 3, LSU travels to face Kentucky on Oct. 10. It will be LSU’s first trip to Kentucky since the 2021 season when the Wildcats posted a 42-21 win over the Tigers.

Mississippi State and Auburn return to the LSU schedule next year with the Tigers hosting the Bulldogs on Oct. 17 followed by a trip to The Plains on Oct. 24. LSU last played Mississippi State and Auburn in 2023 after both teams were fixtures of the Tigers’ schedule for many years. Prior to 2024, LSU and Auburn met every season in football dating back to 1992, while the Tigers and Bulldogs played on an annual basis going back to 1944.

Following an open date on Oct. 31, LSU’s November slate features back-to-back home games against Alabama on Nov. 7 followed by Texas on Nov. 14. The contest against Texas will mark the first meeting between the teams in Tiger Stadium since 1953.

LSU closes out the regular-season with road games against Tennessee on Nov. 21 and Arkansas on Nov. 28. The Tigers last played in Knoxville in 2017 when LSU recorded a 30-10 win over the Vols. The Tigers face Arkansas in the regular-season finale for the first time since 2013. LSU and Arkansas met in the final game of the regular-season 21 times between 1992-2013 before Texas A&M joined the league in 2014.

2026 LSU Football Schedule Notes

• LSU opens the season at home for the first time since 2020 when the Tigers hosted Mississippi State. It’s the first time the Tigers host a non-conference opponent in the season-opener since Georgia Southern in 2019.
• LSU hosts two home games to open season for the first time since 2012 when the Tigers played three straight games in Tiger Stadium – North Texas, Washington, Idaho – to start the year.
• They close the regular-season with back-to-back SEC road games for the first time since 2014 when the Tigers went to Arkansas and Texas A&M in consecutive games to cap the year.
• LSU will host Texas A&M and Alabama in Tiger Stadium in the same season for the first time since the Aggies joined the SEC in 2014. The last time Texas A&M and Alabama were both on the home schedule came in 1994 when the Aggies were members of the Southwest Conference.
• The schedule features games against four programs with new head coaches – all of which come on the road – Ole Miss, Kentucky, Auburn, and Arkansas.

Lane Kiffin’s Plans for LSU

“To win big, as you go through this decision and you look at different places and all the things involved, you need everybody pulling in the same direction, and I felt through this process that definitely the leadership here at LSU was all in line and all in place to give us that. I know that we have, with the passion of LSU family and our LSU players, that we have everything to bring championship football back to LSU. It’s time for LSU to take its place back as the best program in all of college football, and that’s what we’re here to do.”