Lane Kiffin’s $91M contract, Brian Kelly’s $54M buyout and a $40M roster: Is LSU getting its money’s worth?

Nine weeks into LSU's 2026 season, it feels too much like the 2025 season, despite all the resources poured into the program to ensure that wouldn't be the case.

Saturday evening brought a familiar feeling in Baton Rouge as No. 5 Alabama pulled away from No. 14 LSU late for a 31-13 win. The Crimson Tide are now 7-1 in their last eight trips to Death Valley, and most of the recent wins have come by comfortable margins.

With that loss, LSU is 6-3 and clinging for dear life to its College Football Playoff hopes. Entering the season, many pundits and prognosticators considered the Tigers to be a virtual lock for the playoff. Some of them picked LSU to win the national championship.

When things went off the rails one year ago, LSU fired Brian Kelly and began its very public pursuit of Lane Kiffin, who ultimately chose the Tigers over another lucrative offer from Florida. Kiffin's contract comes out to around $91 million overall — $13 million this year plus incentives. It also cost the Tigers a $54 million buyout to move on from Kelly. On top of investing big money into Kiffin, his coaching staff and go-away money…

Original source: https://www.cbssports.com/