A day after announcing that this season would be his last, it was Tell the Truth Monday as usual for Ed Orgeron and his LSU Tigers.

But Orgeron suspects his old friend Lane Kiffin, head coach of the Ole Miss team he’ll face in his first game as lame duck coach, may be fibbing.

Kiffin said Monday that he wasn’t optimistic that his star quarterback Matt Corrall, one of the leading candidate for the Heisman Trophy, will play this week when LSU comes to Oxford.

“He’s not in very good shape,” Kiffin said Monday. “Hasn’t been for the last two days. Hopefully he’ll play but I’m not feeling really good about that right now.”

Color Orgeron skeptical.

“Knowing coach Kiffin,” Orgeron said at his own press briefing, “he’s throwing me a smoke screen.”

If Orgeron is correct, this week’s game will feature the two SEC offensive players of the week.

Corrall shared the award with LSU running back Tyrion Davis-Price, whose 287 yards rushing broke LSU’s single-game record in the Tigers’ 49-42 upset of Florida Saturday. Davis-Price was also named the Walter Camp national offensive player of the week. Davis-Price had 11 carries of 10 yards or more, which the web site PFF says is most by a college player since 2018.

Corrall, who leads the Rebels in both passing and rushing, threw for 231 yards and two touchdowns in the No. 12 Rebels’ 31-26 win over Tennessee, but also ran 30 times for 195 yards.

“Obviously we don’t want our quarterback running 30 times,” Kiffin said. “We don’t even know if our quarterback’s going to play this week.”

Corrall had to leave the game briefly and was replaced by Luke Altmyer, who is 0-for-4 passing this season.

Another option if Corrall is unable to play might be John Rhys Plumlee.

He’s since been moved to wide receiver, but two years ago as a quarterback he tortured LSU’s eventual national championship team with 212 yards rushing and four touchdowns in a wild 58-37 win for the Tigers.

Corrall, however, told reporters after the game that he “rolled” his ankle but that it should be fine.

Kiffin and Orgeron go way back.

When Orgeron took over as LSU’s head coach, Kiffin was mentioned as a possible offensive coordinator before he took the head coaching job at Florida Atlantic.

Orgeron was on Kiffin’s staff at Tennessee in 2009 and followed him to Southern Cal. When Kiffin was fired by the Trojans midseason of 2013 Orgeron took over as interim head coach.

Kiffin said the two don’t communicate as much as they used to, but he did get a text from Coach O after his win over Tennessee.

Kiffin was baffled that Orgeron will be a lame duck when returns to Oxford, where he was head coach from 2005-07.

“Ed obviously did a great job, won a national championship,” Kiffin said. “I’m not really sure what happened as of late. It’s crazy. They had just beat a really good Florida team. There were not a lot of people who gave them a chance after the Kentucky game. That shows you they have great players and they can play really well, and they did that.”