Lane Kiffin was “shocked” when LSU’s Nov. 7 home game with Alabama wasn’t designated for a nighttime kickoff.

Then he thought about his school’s recent issues with the Southeastern Conference, and his surprise quickly faded.

“Well, obviously, the SEC wanted to change this year from how it had been to give LSU less advantage of how well LSU plays at night and how intimidating it is to play here,” Kiffin told reporters Wednesday during the SEC’s once-a-month teleconference.

The coach, who is a defendant in a lawsuit filed by the SEC over his attempt to add athletes who previously signed NFL contracts, then recalled the next part of a back-and-forth he said he had with LSU football sports information director Michael Bonnette about the Tigers’ 2:30 p.m. kickoff with Alabama.

“I was like, well, if someone thinks the SEC wants us to win this year after what's been going on, they must have just been on Mars the last four months,” Kiffin said. “So I guess when I look at it that way, I'm not surprised.”

The conference’s TV partner, ESPN, sets kickoff times, not the conference itself. But Kiffin has found ways to bring up LSU’s ongoing issues with the SEC multiple times in recent weeks.

After a 31-0 win over Mississippi State, he said he had no “pity” or “empathy” for the Bulldogs missing star players in the game because of the Tigers’ own injuries, as well as “fricking injunctions not being followed.” The latter referenced ex-Ole Miss stars Dae’Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris, who were eligible for a fifth NCAA season because of a Baton Rouge court order but weren’t rostered by LSU after the SEC threatened penalties.

Last week, Kiffin was asked about field-storming in college football. He referenced the SEC’s insistence that its other rules be followed in contrast to a lack of follow through by some institutions in preventing fans from pouring onto the field.

The decision to not play LSU-Alabama at night offered another opportunity for Kiffin to bring up SEC tensions. Kiffin said he just assumed the matchup of 6-2 SEC squads, both in the hunt for a College Football Playoff berth, would be played at night — just like 14 of their last 15 regular-season meetings.

“Especially in 16 years, this game has been at night here all the time,” Kiffin said. “I never even considered that it wouldn't be at night. So I guess that's probably naive of me.”

LSU has a 30-3 record in Tiger Stadium since 2022, which was the beginning of Brian Kelly’s tenure as coach.

In Kiffin’s first season, LSU has outscored opponents by a combined margin of 225-44 in its five home victories. The first four games the Tigers played at home this season were nighttime kickoffs, the lone exception being an 11 a.m. homecoming game with Mississippi State.

LSU’s day game with Alabama has made for a run of three straight day games for the Tigers, who just beat Auburn 38-17 at Jordan-Hare Stadium in another 11 a.m. kickoff.

On the weekend of Nov. 7, Georgia versus Ole Miss was selected as a night game on ABC, while Kentucky-Tennessee will air as the night game on ESPN. Both of those games will be competing against the Miami-Notre Dame game on NBC.

Kiffin would prefer any advantage he could get for No. 15 LSU against No. 10 Alabama, which he considers the most talented team the Tigers have played this season.

“When you combine offense and defense, these guys really are loaded,” Kiffin said. “Look like the old Alabama teams. Really long, fast receivers. Really special, unique defensive players. So this is gonna be a really big challenge for us to prepare really well and play really well.”