Lights too bright: No. 4 Clemson football falls to No. 9 LSU in season opener
Entering this season, Clemson was considered a legit national title contender.
In Saturday’s 17-10 home loss to LSU at Memorial Stadium, the Tigers got a wake-up call: If they still want to reach that goal in 2025, there’s a lot of work to do.
In only the seventh AP Top 10 matchup in the venue’s history, No. 4 Clemson (0-1) came up short at home against No. 9 LSU and got outscored 14-0 in the second half.
Clemson QB Cade Klubnik had a final shot to keep the game going, but he was pressured on 4th-and-4 with 1:03 remaining and his pass fell incomplete, allowing LSU (1-0) to run out the clock with a 17-10 lead and secure a road win.
The loss is by no means eliminating for Clemson, which could still make the 12-team College Football Playoff as the ACC champion, which gets an automatic bid. The Tigers could also run the table and get in as one of seven at-large teams.
But after losing a third straight season opener and its fourth season opener in five tries, big questions remain on whether this Tigers team can rise above the potential it’s flashed in previous years and truly contend for a championship.
Sound familiar?
Among other troubling statistics: Clemson, under Swinney, has now lost four straight games to SEC teams and eight of its last 11 against SEC teams; has not beaten an AP-ranked SEC team since No. 12 Texas A&M in 2019 (seven tries); and has lost four of its last five and seven of its last 10 games against AP Top 10 teams.
LSU also snapped a five-game losing streak in season openers and won its first opener under coach Brian Kelly, who was previously 0-3 in that setting.
“It was a heavyweight fight, simple as that,” Swinney said postgame. “They made a couple more plays than we did, and we made a couple more critical errors than they did. In games like that, that’s usually the difference.”
Game recap
Between the sold-out crowd of 81,500, the primetime TV slot on ABC, the dozens of former players in attendance and the opponent, Saturday’s game presented Clemson with a major opportunity.
Early on, it looked like the Tigers were going to seize it.
Clemson led 10-3 at halftime, primarily because of two key turnovers forced by new defensive coordinator Tom Allen’s unit and one gutsy offensive drive.
Although Clemson’s defense surrendered 354 yards and 25 first downs to LSU, Swinney emphasized multiple times that he thought the unit matched up well against a loaded LSU offense featuring QB Garrett Nussmeier and a host of playmakers.
In the first quarter, Clemson cornerback Avieon Terrell ripped the ball out of an LSU receiver’s hands and safety Ricardo Jones returned it 42 yards to set up the opening score of the game, a 42-yard Nolan Hauser field goal.
LSU tied the game early in the second quarter with a 52-yard field goal of its own.
But Klubnik engineered a gutsy 13-play, 75-yard drive and made plays with his arms and his legs to get Clemson on the board. The Tigers converted a 4th-and-2 on LSU’s 25 (a big gain to receiver Bryant Wesco Jr.) and a 4th and 1 on LSU’s 1-yard line (a rushing TD by new starting RB and former WR Adam Randall).
Safety Ronan Hanafin kept LSU off the board when he forced a fumble on a 4th-and-2 on Clemson’s 12-yard line with 15 seconds left in the first half.
The Tigers entered halftime with a 10-3 lead and were 155-11 in the Swinney era (a winning percentage of .933) when leading at the half heading into Saturday.
When Kelly heard that stat, he said, he was confident LSU would be loss No. 12.
Clemson’s opening drive of the third quarter was promising — after back-to-back chunk plays, the Tigers had a 1st-and-10 at LSU’s 30. But, once again, Klubnik and company stalled. The end result: Hauser missing a 48-yard field goal.
Nussmeier — who finished 28-38 for 230 yards, a touchdown and zero turnovers — made quick work of Clemson’s defense and easily drove LSU down the field for a game-tying touchdown (10-10).
And it could’ve gotten a lot worse after Klubnik was way high and way off on Clemson’s next drive, throwing the ball right into the hands of an LSU defensive back and giving the road team a chance for a massive momentum swing.
LSU looked to have that when Nussmeier threw a deep ball to receiver Barion Brown, who was initially ruled down at the 1-yard line but, on a review, looked like he may have scored, which would’ve made it 17-10 LSU in the third quarter.
Surprisingly, refs ruled the play an incompletion, and LSU ended the drive with a missed field goal.
Clemson and LSU were locked in a 10-10 tie after three quarters, though the home fans were fuming after a few calls went against their defense and extended an LSU drive (specifically, a late pass interference call on 3rd and 11).
Nussmeier hit his tight end, Trey’Dez Green, for an 8-yard jump ball touchdown to give LSU its first lead of the game — 17-10 — early in the fourth quarter.
Down a touchdown, Klubnik brought Clemson down to LSU’s 33 before the Tigers (very much in four-down territory) couldn’t convert a 4th and 5 with 9:06 to go.
But Allen’s Clemson defense — which got great efforts from Hanafin (12 tackles), linebacker Sammy Brown (11 tackles) and Terrell — kept giving the offense a chance. Twice more, they forced LSU punts. Twice more, Clemson couldn’t score.
On Clemson’s final drive, Klubnik (19-38, 230 yards, one interception) worked his team down to the 15-yard line. But LSU got pressure immediately on a 4th and 4, do-or-die play, Klubnik scrambled and threw incomplete and the game was over.
The Tigers did not run the ball once in the fourth quarter, ending the game throwing 19 straight times, and rushed 20 times for 31 yards (1.6 yards per carry) as a team, a stat Swinney labeled “the biggest disappointment.”
LSU players shushed the crowd and waved goodbye as they skipped out of Memorial Stadium. Clemson, meanwhile, took another loss — and another perception hit, during a season many thought could be special.
Klubnik said it still can, starting with Troy next week.
“Our mentality is: Let’s bounce back, get back in it and make the playoffs,” he said.
Next Clemson game
Who: Clemson (0-1) vs. Troy (1-0)
When: 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 6
Where: Memorial Stadium in Clemson
TV: ACC Network
This story was originally published August 30, 2025 at 11:19 PM.
