The LSU Tigers return to SEC play Saturday against the Kentucky Wildcats and former Airline star Kenny Darby Saturday in Lexington, Ky.
Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. (ESPN). There is an 80 percent chance of rain, some locally heavy, because of the remnants of Hurricane Isais.
LSU (4-1, 1-1) is coming off a 63-14 victory over McNeese during which the starters saw little action after the first half. Kentucky (4-1, 2-1) rallied from a 17-0 deficit to defeat South Carolina 35-34 in overtime last week.
Darby, an All-State receiver at Airline and four-star recruit, originally committed to LSU in November of 2024. But after LSU fired Brian Kelly and hired Lane Kiffin, things changed. Darby decomitted from LSU and signed with Kentucky In December of 2025.
Like LSU, Kentucky has a new head coach. Former Oregon offensive coordinator Will Stein was hired to replace Mark Stoops in Dec. 1, 2025. Stein hired Joe Sloan as his offensive coordinator. Sloan was a member of Kelly’s staff at LSU and recruited Darby.
Darby has had an immediate impact at Kentucky. He had 12 catches for 96 yards and a touchdown against South Carolina.
For the season, he leads the Wildcats in both receptions with 25 and receiving yardage with 322. He has scored three touchdowns.
“Kenny is a football junkie,” Stein told the Lexington Herald
Leader. “He loves it. He practices like a madman every single day. If we ever have a walkthrough, he’s literally going full speed. I’m like, ‘Dude, you got to slow down. This is not full speed.’
“He only does one speed, and he loves it. He’s really intelligent. His football IQ is high. The sky’s the limit for that kid. I think he’s going to continue to get better this year.”
Darby and the Wildcats will be going against an LSU defense that ranks No. 2 in the country and No. 1 in the SEC in total defense. The Tigers are allowing 220.6 yards per game (58.4 rushing, 162.2 passing).
The LSU first-team defense has given up just one touchdown in the second half all season.
Kentucky ranks No. 9 in the SEC in total offense at 416.8 yards per game (187.2 rushing, 229.6 passing).
Quarterback Kenny Minchey has completed 82-of-120 passes for 1,148 yards and 11 touchdowns with one interception.
“He’s playing really smooth, has good flow to how he plays, moves around the pocket, very good pocket presence, and makes a lot of really nice big throws,” Kiffin said in his weekly press conference. “He seems like a really good leader too. You just see how he plays. I can see why they have a lot of confidence in him.”
C.J. Baxter leads the team in rushing with 361 yards on 68 carries and has scored six. Freshman Jason Patterson is close behind with 355 yards on 45 carries.
“I think they’re really well-coached,” Kiffin said. “I think he’s (Stein) done a great job of bringing energy into the program coming in. They’re really sound. They run really cool plays on offense, problematic plays.
“And they’re really sound on defense. They don’t do a ton of things. They’re coached really well. And their players definitely believe in their systems. He’s got them playing with a lot of confidence.”
LSU quarterback Sam Leavitt played the first half against McNeese. He has completed 92 of 139 passes for 1,221 yards and eight touchdowns with seven interceptions.
Dilin Jones leads the team in rushing with 427 yards on 94 carries. Winston Watkins Jr. is the Tigers’ leading receiver with 354 yards on 23 catches.
LSU will still be without injured linebacker Whit Weeks and tight end Trey’Dez Green.
During his press conference, Kiffin was asked how he felt about his team as the regular season nears its halfway point.
“I feel really good about our team,” he said. “A lot of times we’ve played as well as anybody in the country. Our first-team defense has given up just one touchdown in the second half all season long.
Kiffin said he’d feel great if he still had potential All-Americans Weeks and Green going into the meat of the schedule.
“Still feel good. I feel great about the future. I know that if we put together this team in that short amount of time without any background with them, I know what next year and the year after will look like. That has nothing to do with how this season is going. I just know that it’s a great combination of all these things coming together.”