The Clemson Tigers and LSU Tigers face off in (Clemson’s) Death Valley to open the 2025 football season. Each of the last two meetings between these teams were epic contests. Clemson won the 2012 Chick-fil-A Bowl on a game-winning drive ked by Tajh Boyd and Nuk Hopkins that ended with a Chandler Catanzaro walk-off field goal. More recently, LSU won the 2019 National Championship in New Orleans as Joe Burrow proved unstoppable.
This game should likewise be an epic battle between the two best returning
QBs in college football. To help us preview it, we connected with Zachary Junda of And the Valley Shook. Give him a follow and X and then enjoy the interview below.
The 2019 LSU Tigers may have been the greatest team of all-time, at least by the end of the year. While that season ended with celebration in New Orleans, each season since has begun with heartbreak. Mississippi State, UCLA, Florida State (2x), and USC comprise the teams to beat LSU in season openers since Joe Burrow left after the 2019 season. This coincides with a five-year playoff drought.
Of course, you could paint a similar story for Clemson. Since that 2019 championship battle with LSU, Clemson is 0-2 in playoff games. They lost back-to-back season openers (Duke and Georgia) and went 0-3 against the SEC last year.
Both teams bring back top 5 QBs with the upside for elite offenses and one of them has to lose in week 1. Who needs this game more and why?
I’m biased, obviously, but I think LSU needs this game a heck of a lot more than Clemson does. Everyone is well aware of the season-opener losing streak the Tigers are on, and LSU’s not running from it. Dropping last year’s opener against USC was the nadir and it got so bad that some LSU fans were demanding a week 0 game just to get a tuneup before heading over to Clemson, or just to stop playing these types of marquee non-conference openers altogether. Personally I think that’s cowardly, nobody would have a problem playing these games if LSU were winning them. Between 2010 and 2016 LSU had neutral site openers against UNC in Atlanta, Oregon and TCU in Dallas, and a faux home-and-home with Wisconsin in Houston and Lambeau. LSU went 4-1 in that stretch and nobody had a problem with those games then, but now that LSU’s losing them, suddenly Tiger fans want to take their ball and go home.
Anyway, during SEC Media Days, the three player reps and Brian Kelly talked about how Clemson logos are all over the football ops building. There seems to be a “we’re going all-in” approach not only for this opener, but this 2025 season as a whole. They spun it as “well we’ve been so focused on winning the national championship, we probably didn’t give these last few openers the attention it deserved” which I’m not sure I buy, but I’m not in the building.
Ultimately though, I think the reason LSU needs this game more is because through three seasons the Tigers have been unable to prove they can consistently beat teams with equal or better talent than theirs. “We beat Alabama once at home!” Okay, cool. “We’ve beaten Ole Miss in Baton Rouge twice!” Sorry if I’m not doing backflips for protecting homefield against Lane Kiffin. “We came back from 17-0 to beat South Carolina!” A Gamecock team that lost LaNorris Sellers at halftime? Sorry, not all that impressed.
Brian Kelly needs to prove to me he can win a big game away from home, and I’m skeptical that changes on August 30 against this Clemson team.
LSU had an astounding four offensive linemen drafted including Will Campbell going no. 4 overall to the New England Patriots. They were exceptional in pass protection allowing just 1.15 sacks per game last year despite leaning heavily on the passing game. With so much change in front of Nussmeier, is there a fairly sizeable risk that pass protection issues lead to somewhat of a regression from what was a stellar pass attack?
Absolutely, and going up against this Clemson defensive line might be the worst possible draw a team in LSU’s situation could get. To be fair to the LSU offensive line, it’s not like they’re breaking in four freshmen: Braelin Moore and Josh Thompson were multi-year starters at Virginia Tech and Northwestern, while Tyree Adams and Weston Davis started in the Texas Bowl. Offensive Line Coach Brad Davis has been an ace recruiter, and he’s been stacking elite O-line class on top of elite O-line class. There’s plenty of talent in the room, now it’s on him to figure out the starting five.
The bigger question mark, to me, isn’t can LSU pass block, but can the line do a better job in the running game? Will Campbell called his shot prior to the USC game and said “I’m telling everybody right now, we are going to run the football”....and LSU ended up ranking dead last in the SEC in rushing last season. LSU made a really smart play in trying to reinvigorate the line by bringing in former Florida State offensive coordinator Alex Atkins as the running game coordinator to work in tandem with Brad Davis, and between them and Joe Sloan entering his second season as the Tiger play caller, I expect the LSU offensive line to be an improved unit than last year’s group.
LSU brought in a huge transfer class of 18 players including three wide receivers — Barrion Brown (UK), Nic Anderson (OU), and Destyn Hill (FSU). Which transfers are you most excited about? Any concerns about integrating them into the team quickly enough to be ready for the season opener?
Yes and that’s why if there was ever a year for LSU to try and cram in a last-second week 0 game, it would be this year. But, LSU’s bringing back practically its entire coaching staff from last season, and of all the positions there is continuity, at least it’s at quarterback.
There’s no way of knowing how well LSU gels between now and the opener, they’ll either be ready or they won’t. I’ll say this though, I think if all the pieces do click into place, there may not be a more talented team in the country, and I fully expect LSU to be playing deep into January.
LSU is somewhat unique in that they have won three national championships in the last 25 years (2003, 2007. 2019) all with different coaches. Georgia, Florida, Clemson each won twice and each with the same coach. Michigan, Florida State, Auburn, USC, Texas, Miami, and Oklahoma each have one and Alabama has the remaining six — all with Nick Saban. The only other program to win three with three coaches in the last 25 years is Ohio State — good company. Given that impressive record, it seems LSU’s history and talent hotbed is the main source of its success, not coaching brilliance. So, if Brian Kelly were to guide this team to a 9-3 season that ends with either a close snub from the playoff or a 10/11 seed and quick exit, where will the fan base and administration stand with Coach Kelly?
We’ll be really, really annoyed with him but with that $50 million buyout still hanging around I’m not sure there’s anything LSU can really do about it. Then again, everyone thought Texas A&M would be stuck with Jimbo for the entirety of that deal (don’t look up who gave him that contract), but the powers that be finally had enough and came up with the money to get rid of him.
With the amount of money LSU’s invested into the coaching staff and roster, a 9-3 type of season with a 10/11 seed or outright missing the playoff is completely unacceptable, especially after wasting a national championship-caliber offense in 2023 with Jayden Daniels.
At the very least, LSU has to make it to Atlanta and either get that first-round bye or be hosting a playoff game at home. It’s been five years since LSU’s played meaningful football in December, that needs to change.
More from shakinthesouthland.com:
