LSU and Clemson have a lot in common.
Both are nicknamed the Tigers, both have a home stadium nicknamed “Death Valley,” both have quarterbacks who could be in New York for the Heisman Trophy presentation in December and be high first-round picks in the NFL draft, and both have head coaches feeling pressure to make a strong run at a national championship.
But the winning team will achieve some separation when No. 9 LSU and No. 4 Clemson meet in their season opener Saturday night in Clemson, S.C.
“They’re similar to us in a lot of ways,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said of LSU. “They have elite quarterback play, elite skill and dudes in the trenches on both sides. That’s why it’s a Top 10 matchup.”
Both quarterbacks not only have stuck around longer than many of their counterparts in college football, but both have stayed at their current schools the whole time.
Cade Klubnik is in his fourth season at Clemson, and Garrett Nussmeier is in his fifth at LSU. Klubnik threw for 3,639 yards and 36 touchdowns last season, and Nussmeier passed for 4,052 and 29, respectively.
“It’s great,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said of the quarterbacks’ patience. “It’s hard to develop them when they’re not in your program. The continuity with the people around them is great.”
Klubnik arrived in 2022 as one of the top recruits in the country but started just one game as a freshman before earning the top job two years ago.
“He could have gone to a lot of places,” Swinney said. “I told him to be in it for the long term, not just his freshman year. That kid has really grown and developed. He has really bought in.”
Clemson, which finished 10-4 in 2024, made it back to the CFP last season after a three-year drought, but its last national championship came in 2018, which was its second title in three seasons.
Swinney’s team is favored to repeat as ACC champion — the Tigers went 7-1 last season — and perhaps do better than its first-round CFP loss to Texas last season.
LSU hasn’t won a season opener since its national championship campaign in 2019, and Kelly’s first three teams fell far short of preseason expectations with their performances in opening losses to Florida State (2022 and 2023) and Southern California (2024).
Last season, LSU finished 9-4 overall and 5-3 in the SEC, and the team has been picked to finish fourth in the conference.
Kelly was much more active in the transfer portal during this offseason than he had been previously, and he came away with one of the highest-rated classes.
“The reality is we had some work to do,” Kelly said, “and that work was building a foundational piece in this program. Each year, you’re developing depth. I think this is probably the most depth we’ve had. I would say what’s different is this is a mature group that has played a lot of football.”
Kelly said he believes this team has the “DNA” to handle the challenge of opening against a program as successful as Clemson in an environment as hostile as the one his home stadium creates for visitors.
“When we get to these moments, it’s having a team that is confident, that plays the game the right way in a hostile environment,” Kelly said. “Many would say composure, maturity, and they’ve got to play with great competitiveness. Each and every play is going to be important for us.”
