LSU’s Lane Kiffin and Tennessee’s Josh Heupel both had the same complaint about their team’s Week 1 performances.

The Tigers and the Vols both played different caliber opponents — LSU beat Clemson while Tennessee beat Furman — but both coaches had the same concern after the wins.

Neither coach was happy that their backup defensive players allowed points late.

Kiffin was more direct in his criticism, while Heupel was more reserved.

“I told them, ‘Hey, the backups on defense did not perform to our standard,’” said Kiffin after the win over Clemson. “They let them go down and score and we turned the ball over early to give them the three points. There’s going to come games that those guys got to go into games and they’re going to have to stop them.”

LSU EDGE Jordan Ross, a former Tennessee pass rusher, echoed Kiffin’s sentiments after the game.

“We weren’t really too happy with that honestly,” said Ross. “We tried to shut them out, but unfortunately we didn’t. That was the only problem. But next time, we’ll do better.”

Heupel offered a more coach-speaky response.

“I was with the ones,” said Heupel on The Mike Keith Show when asked if he was pleased with the tackling in the Vols’ win. “There’s a couple of missed tackles out on the perimeter where we’re a little bit out of position — just as we’re chasing the football. I thought the the style of tackling that we were trying to use and the fundamentals were pretty sound for the most part. When the twos and threes got in the football game, there’s some areas of improvement there where we need to make a jump.”

I don’t think either approach is necessarily “right.” It all depends on what that particular team needs.

Heupel and Kiffin are in similar spots as head coaches. Both have made the College Football Playoff, but neither have broken through and won a championship. They’re good coaches who have won a lot of big games. I’d say both know what they’re doing.

Kiffin, though, is trying to establish a standard in his first season on the job in Baton Rouge, so I understand the more direct approach after a harmless touchdown. Kiffin is also the more lively personality, so it’s not a surprise that he’s straying from coach speak (which isn’t a bad thing).

We’ll see how both defenses respond as the season plays out.

And don’t forget: LSU and Tennessee will meet in Knoxville in November.