ARLINGTON, Texas -- In the beginning, Lane Kiffin said he hadn’t even thought about facing his old team, USC. It wasn’t personal, he told reporters at Alabama’s media day at the outset of fall camp. It was about the players, he explained, “just like it wasn’t about me when we were at Tennessee.”
But, listen, this is the same Lane Kiffin who just so happened to wear an orange tie the day Alabama hosted Tennessee last season. We know that when he says he doesn’t care, it’s not 100 percent true. It can’t be.
There’s no way that, as with Tennessee, beating USC wouldn’t mean just a little more to him.