LSU football, ranked No. 15 in the country, has established itself as a brand new threat to both the conference and national opponents this year under head coach Lane Kiffin.

His fourth SEC program takeover has been nothing short of exciting this year, featuring some early-season reality checks and dominant scoreboard wins.

For the final stretch of the season, LSU will face a grueling SEC gauntlet that will decide its fate for a hopeful playoff run. It's now time for Kiffin to prove the exact reason he was hired in Baton Rouge.

Return On Investment

Kiffin's record-breaking $91 million, seven-year deal to take over the Tigers was a major investment for the program, especially for a school that was still paying out its former coach, Brian Kelly.

As he slowly climbs to the top of the SEC leaderboard, Kiffin is gaining meaningful momentum ahead of the toughest part of the season, with back-to-back blowout wins over Auburn and Mississippi State in the past two matchups.

While his short tenure hasn't brought the most exciting games to Death Valley just yet, Alabama will be the ultimate test of how far this mid-season momentum can take the team, and just how valuable Kififn's return on investment is at LSU.

The stakes of this game, closing the gap on a top-10 team and being able to take a major step forward into being a conference championship contender, are the exact reasons for Kiffin to finally be on LSU's sideline.

Preseason and early-season projections have given the Tigers a respectable 40% chance of making the college football playoff under Kiffin, putting them in the spotlight that can easily be overtaken by another competitor.

As of this week, that percentage has slowly risen to a 45.3% chance in ESPN's FPI if the Tigers can hang on in November.

To be able to bring success to the program during the final four matchups won't just bring a wave of excitement to Baton Rouge and highlight the talent of the team, but also give Kiffin the ultimate stamp of approval on his historic hire.

And it all starts with taking down the Crimson Tide on the first Saturday of November.

Alabama has taken home the victory in the last three matchups between the two SEC rivals. But as the offseason story has told, nothing looks the same in LSU's program this year. Kiffin's hire can completely rewrite the recent record, putting LSU in the ideal position to win in Baton Rouge.

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