The goal for LSU was simple: start off 1-0.
Clemson paw prints were all over the football ops building this offseason. It was on weights, it was on tackling dummies, all with the sole focus of ending tonight with that 1-0 record; LSU even went as far as putting 1-0 on the players’ shirts they wore during warmups, and tonight that focus was rewarded as #9 LSU went on the road to beat #4 Clemson 17-10 and get off to a, wait for it, 1-0 start.
Advertisement
Brian Kelly has gotten the “never won an opener at LSU” monkey off his back, and the program’s six-year streak of starting off 0-1 finally came to an end. LSU’s defense pitched a second half shutout, and the offense rallied back from a 10-3 halftime deficit. Caden Durham tied the game in the third quarter with a two-yard rushing touchdown, and Garrett Nussmeier found Trey’Dez Green from eight yards out for the go-ahead score early in the fourth quarter.
Maybe I’m saying this in the afterglow of LSU’s win, but all night long it felt like these Tigers were better than those Tigers. From the jump, LSU looked like a completely different team than last year, as Caden Durham broke loose for 25 yards on the first snap of the season. LSU crossed into Clemson territory on its opening drive before stalling out and punting at the Clemson’s 39.
LSU went heavy in the transfer portal on the defensive side of the ball, and it was clear that the investment paid off. The Tiger defense forced a three and out on Clemson’s opening possession, though fittingly it was a familiar face, not a transfer, who made the first key defensive play as sophomore corner PJ Woodland sacked Cade Klubnik for a 12-yard loss to end the drive.
A common theme throughout the night was Clemson getting what felt like all the lucky breaks, and on LSU’s second drive, the Tigers punched the ball out of Bauer Sharp’s arms and returned the ball all the way to the LSU 24. In real time it looked like Sharp’s knee was down, but the ball had just started to move and Clemson had the ball just outside of the red zone.
Advertisement
The Tiger offense would not manage to net a single yard, however, as the LSU defense forced its second three and out in as many drives, but Nolan Hauser connected on a 42-yard field goal to give Clemson an early 3-0 lead.
LSU and Clemson then traded punts, before LSU got on the board early in the second quarter. LSU’s best drive to that point featured a lot of Zavion Thomas and Ju’Juan Johnson: Thomas ran for 13 yards and then caught a 19-yard pass from Nussmeier, while Johnson got nine yards off of two carries. The drive was almost ruined when Nussmeier was sacked and put LSU into a 3rd and 21, but Nuss found Johnson for nine yards to get LSU in field goal range. That’s when Damian Ramos connected on a career-best 53 yard field goal to tie the game at 3-3.
Clemson would respond, however, and drove right down the field over the span of 12 plays and 75 yards to score the game’s first touchdown. Clemson converted two fourth downs along the way, both which looked like LSU had stopped. The first one was a 21-yard completion on 4th and two that looked like would be wiped out because of a pick play, but because the pass was thrown behind the line of scrimmage, no OPI was called; Clemson’s other fourth down conversion was just some good ole fashion man football as Adam Randall kept his legs churning on 4th and goal from the 1, and his second effort was rewarded with a score.
LSU tried to end the half with some points of their own, but for the fourth year in a row Brian Kelly’s aggression in the red zone wouldn’t bear fruit. LSU had a 4th and 2 at Clemson’s 12 with 15 seconds left and no timeouts, threw a screen to Chris Hilton, but Hilton fumbled the ball away. Personally, I didn’t mind going for it on 4th down. You’re on the road, it’s a show of confidence in your guys, and all that good stuff. My problem, however, was the play call itself. To me, that’s a situation where you throw it into the end zone and hope Green and his 6’7” basketball player frame can either come down with it, or he draws a PI.
Advertisement
Clemson got the ball to start the second half, and this was the moment where things felt like they were starting to teeter. Clemson connected on consecutive 19-yard passes, and both catches were pretty remarkable, but, once again, the LSU defense stood tall and forced Clemson to attempt a 48 yard field goal that was missed wide to the right.
Sparked by the miss, LSU drove down the field and knotted the game at 10. Aaron Anderson got LSU 53 yards on consecutive plays to get the Tigers into Clemson territory, and then Nuss did a great job keeping a 3rd and 5 alive by rolling to his right and finding Kyle Parker for 16 yards. Four plays later, Durham scored LSU’s first touchdown of 2025.
As mentioned above, LSU invested a lot of resources into the transfer portal, specifically at defensive back to get LSU back to its DBU reputation, and the biggest difference maker, Mansoor Delane, picked off Klubnik to set LSU up for the knockout punch.
That knockout punch, however, wouldn’t be delivered because of one of the most egregious overturns any of us have seen in quite some time. On 2nd and 11 at the Clemson 29, Nussmeier dropped a beautiful ball right into the bucket that was Barion Brown. Brown was ruled out of bounds at the 1-yard line, before the game was stopped for a replay review. Everyone in the building thought they were reviewing to see if Brown, who crossed the pylon, scored on the play, but somehow the catch was ruled incomplete because of the ole Dez Bryant not surviving the ground thing.
What are we doing? If that’s not a catch, then I don’t know what is. That’s the kind of overturn that makes people believe games are fixed.
Advertisement
LSU tried to salvage at least some points out of this, but Ramos pushed it wide. To make things worse, for a moment it looked like he hurt something in his leg, but it ended up being cramps. Crisis definitely averted there.
Clemson’s offense, again, wouldn’t do anything despite being gifted the overturn of the century. LSU’s defense didn’t get rattled and forced a three and out following the missed field goal.
The LSU offense got hosed on their previous drive, but they wouldn’t be denied again. Tied at 10, LSU went down the field in 11 plays, and believe it or not actually got a couple of calls in their favor, before Nuss found Green in the end zone for what ended up being the winning score.
Clemson ended up getting three more possessions but couldn’t do anything with the ball. On the drive following LSU’s touchdown, the Tigers got to the LSU 33 yard line, but failed to convert a fourth and five; Clemson then went three and out on its next possession, and punted the ball back to LSU.
Advertisement
LSU ended up going three and out as well, and gave Klubnik and the Tigers one last chance with 1:50 to work with and one timeout. They got deep into LSU territory, in fact they advanced all the way to the Tiger 15, but LSU’s defense stood tall on 4th and five. Harold Perkins, back after missing the final nine games of last season with an ACL tear, got after Klubnik to force a heave that ended up going nowhere, and LSU got out of the other Death Valley with a massive win to improve to, say it with me one more time,
1-0.
