They say it never rains at Tiger Stadium. They were wrong. On an evening where a torrential downpour pushed kickoff back nearly 90 minutes, LSU showered Clemson with points over the course of 51-10 throttling to kick off the Lane Kiffin era in Baton Rouge.
"Imagine if we had pro players," Kiffin quipped in his halftime interview with ESPN's Holly Rowe — a nod to LSU's ongoing legal fight with the SEC and its attempt to add former NFL players to its roster. Imagine, indeed. Here's how it all went down, along with my takeaways from LSU's commanding season-opening win against Dabo Swinney's struggling Clemson squad.
1. Forget Sam Leavitt's Arm — His Legs Carried LSU To Victory It feels like it's been a decade since Sam Leavitt led Arizona State to the College Football Playoff. Two years and one transfer later, onlookers were reminded what makes Leavitt so dangerous — and why he might just be the perfect fit for Kiffin's offense — as he dashed for a pair of first-half scores and carved up Tom Allen's Clemson defense.
The former Sun Devils signal-caller was fleet of foot for a player coming off season-ending foot surgery that, even as he walked into the stadium on Saturday night, appeared as though it might still be hobbling him. Leavitt finished the evening with 113 yards on 12 carries. But it was his acrobatic scampers of eight and 13 yards in the first half that pushed LSU's lead at the break up to 28 points and put the hopes of any kind of Clemson Magic being stirred up on the bayou to bed.
LSU will see stiffer competition than the Clemson squad it saw on Saturday night — we'll get there in a second — but the way the Tigers ran the ball (309 yards on 58 carries) and, especially via their new starting quarterback, provide this offense with a dynamic we may have underrated coming into the campaign. 2. LSU's Legal Clash With The SEC Lingered Over This Game Let's take a moment to discuss who didn't play on Saturday evening.
In a week when football kicked off in earnest across the country, the most compelling storyline in the enterprise played out in a Baton Rouge courtroom. LSU has been fighting its own conference over the last three weeks in an effort to bring back a handful of players — including Ole Miss transfers Dae'Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris — who had signed with NFL teams. LSU's persistence in pressing the matter drew its share of ire from around the college football and political world, including barbs from attorneys general in Oklahoma, South Carolina and Mississippi — who each shared messages backing the SEC in its efforts to enforce its own rules.
The proceedings came to a head on Thursday as a hearing was held just a few miles from Tiger Stadium and where Judge William Jordan sided with LSU and paved the way for Kiffin's crew to add Wright and Harris to the roster. But rather than move forward with adding Wright and Harris and risk a slew of severe penalties from the SEC — which included suspending Kiffin for half the season, a fine that equaled 50% of the program's annual budget, or even the threat of being kicked out of the league — the Tigers brass stood down. "LSU has made a measured decision to keep these two young men off the roster for now while preserving a path for them to be added later," plaintiff attorney Ryan Downton told me in a statement on Saturday morning.
"Everyone should use that space to lower the temperature and look at the facts." To Downton's point, there is still a world where LSU does add Wright and Harris, among others, to its roster down the line. The SEC, too, filed a suit in federal court that leaked, coincidentally, while conference commissioner Greg Sankey was on the stand in Baton Rouge. Will the suit proceed?
Or will LSU move forward with adding a pair of NFL cuts? Stay tuned. 3.
Lane Kiffin's Offense Isn't The Only Strength In Baton Rouge LSU's offense might move at warp speed, but the Tigers defense set the tone on Saturday night. They barely gave an inch — 40 yards, to be precise — over the game's first 17 minutes, capped off by defensive end Jordan Ross leaping in front of Clemson quarterback Christian Vizzina's first-quarter pass and dashing to pay dirt. A 30-yard pick-six at the end of the first quarter to be exact.
Clemson looked completely overwhelmed throughout the early stages of Saturday's proceedings as the LSU front swarmed Vizzina in just his second start in four years at Clemson — albeit it was no better when he was replaced by freshman Tait Reynolds. Purple and white pass-rushers Ross and Princewill Umanmielen were as persistent a presence in the backfield as Vizzina and Reynolds themselves, combining for seven tackles, 2.5 for a loss and two hurries in the first half alone. Defensive Coordinator Blake Baker was among the few holdovers from Brian Kelly's staff and spurned heavy interest from Tulane for its head coaching job to return to LSU.
Keeping Baker around sure looks apt on Kiffin's part after at least one game. 4. Clemson Is Running Out Of Answers And so we're here, again.
Already. It's hard to completely overreact to Saturday night's shellacking in Death Valley — it's a long season after all — but Dabo Swinney may squarely be on the clock. These are bizarre times in the Upstate.
Swinney's resume is genuinely glimmering. Two national titles. Four championship game appearances.
Nine ACC titles. Thirteen (!!) 10-win seasons. Hall of Fame stuff.
The more uncomfortable reality is what should we really expect under Clemson and Swinney in 2026 and beyond? The Tigers have been stubbornly slow at adapting to modern roster-building. The hiring of Garrett Riley and the return of Chad Morris also haven't exactly been boons for a Clemson offense that has been largely listless since Trevor Lawrence was rushing past Howard's Rock (In fairness, we're only one game into the Morris experience Part II).
Clemson isn't close to being a national title contender. That much was abundantly clear during Saturday night's throttling under the lights in Baton Rouge. But, given the way the Tigers looked for the bulk of the night, are we sure they're even an ACC or bowl game contender?
Breakups are painful. They're even messier when they involve a coach who, frankly, deserves a statue outside Memorial Stadium. But it's nights like Saturday that make the uncomfortable questions about Swinney and the future of this program increasingly prescient.
Perhaps the Tigers lick their wounds and rip through the rest of their schedule. I'm not holding my breath.
