re: What the heck is OM doing in the transfer portal that LSU isn't?

As of now, no one knows if Lane can turn those recruits into a Playoff team, or whether he can sustain any type of success. If Hilton had managed to hold onto that last pass in Oxford, LSU would be the one with 10 wins and a New Year's Six bowl.

I don't expect Florida State to follow the Kiffin model. They got a few star players through the portal who definitely helped their success this year, but they're recruiting too well to jump all in on the portal revolution. Kiffin can't recruit like that at Ole Miss, so he has no choice but to bring in transfers.

Michigan State was actually the first school to go all in on the portal with any degree of success when they signed 15 transfers and completely turned the program around. They crashed the next season and continue on that path.

There hasn't been enough time to tell whether the portal-heavy approach can be successful as far as sustained winning is concerned, but programs like Ole Miss, Colorado and TCU will provide the evidence of that path, while Georgia, Alabama and Ohio State will see if the recruit-first method is still the valid model.