UPDATE: The game kicked off at 9:40 p.m. ET.
There will be an unexpectedly longer wait for the most highly anticipated Week 1 game of the 2026 college football season.
LSU head coach Lane Kiffin was expected to make his debut against Clemson in a Saturday game scheduled for a 7:49 p.m. ET kickoff.
Kiffin had already made his much-ballyhooed entrance to the stadium around 6 p.m. ET. But massive thunderstorms have descended upon Baton Rouge, Louisiana, resulting in a heavy downpour and lightning within an 8-mile radius of Tiger Stadium.
Lane Kiffin enters Tiger Stadium for his first LSU game. He walked down with Livvy Dunne, Theo Vonn and Brooks Nader. pic.twitter.com/2RhkoyMboI
— Wilson Alexander (@walexander) September 5, 2026
Several media outlets are reporting that the start has been delayed indefinitely with more storms in the forecast over the next two hours. According to the Greenville News, the public address announcer at Tiger Stadium told the crowd the kickoff would move “later than expected.”
Jay Busbee of Yahoo! Sports posted on X that LSU staff is “reporting at least a 90-minute delay in kickoff.”
Per NCAA weather guidelines, teams are generally instructed to wait until 30 minutes after the last lightning strike is recorded within a designated area (usually 8 to 10 miles) before play can begin or resume.
The delay is the latest development in a typically tumultuous week for a Lane Kiffin-coached team. After LSU petitioned to add former NFL players to its roster, the SEC sued LSU and Kiffin in federal court. The suit argued the move was illegal and created “a competitive imbalance.”
LSU was granted an injunction by a federal judge Thursday to add a fifth year of eligibility for a tight end and defensive lineman who played for Kiffin at Mississippi last season but had signed NFL contracts.
#LSU turns on the purple lights snd plays #PurpleRain as the torrential downpour comes in.
— Preston Guy (@PGuy77) September 5, 2026
Student section remains packed. They came to play today. pic.twitter.com/94bG8P6B3v
