Clemson walked into Baton Rouge with some early juice after Ashton Hampton’s interception set up a Nolan Hauser field goal, but that was about as good as the night got. Once LSU settled in after the two-hour weather delay, the Tigers ripped control away and rolled to a 51-10 win, handing Clemson its worst loss under Dabo Swinney.
The first place it fell apart was in the trenches. Clemson’s offensive line never looked comfortable, and the inexperience up front showed quickly.
Outside of center Harris Sewell, the other four starters had combined for just seven career starts, with four of those belonging to sophomore Brayden Jacobs last season. Redshirt freshman Easton Ware had never even played a snap of college football before this game.
That lack of seasoning showed up against a front that brought real heat. Princewill Umanmielen was a constant problem and finished with 1.5 sacks, while three other LSU linemen also logged at least a half-sack. The result was a Clemson offense that managed only 40 rushing yards on 26 carries and allowed four sacks.
The same story played out on defense, just with different names attached. Clemson expected seniors Jahiem Lawson and Will Heldt to hold up against LSU’s Jordan Seaton and Weston Davis, but they combined for just six tackles and one tackle for loss. Inside, sophomore Amare Adams and JUCO transfer Andy Burburija were making their first career starts at the FBS level, and both had a rough night.
LSU gashed Clemson for 309 rushing yards on 58 carries, with quarterback Sam Leavitt and running back Dilin Jones each going for 113 yards and two touchdowns. Swinney pointed directly at the run defense afterward.
"You're not going to win if you can't stop the run," Swinney said. "And we didn't, and in particular, set the edge. We just did a really poor job of setting the edge, especially versus the stretch and then the quarterback run, which really killed us on third down."
The issues weren’t limited to the lines. Clemson’s quarterback situation was one of the biggest questions entering the season, and redshirt junior Christopher Vizzina won the job over true freshman Tait Reynolds during the latter part of fall camp. But the opener didn’t provide much clarity.
Vizzina went 10-of-16 for 83 yards and threw a pick-six before being benched at the end of the second quarter. Asked afterward whether Vizzina would still start next week, Swinney wasn’t ready to say.
"I don't know," he said when asked about the situation. "I mean, we got to watch the tape and evaluate, and we'll go from there."
He also said the two quarterbacks still sit on equal footing.
"That's what I said coming into it," he stated. That's why I said, you know, it was like we didn't want to like guarantee that he was going to play, but it was pretty likely he was going to play, and so we needed to go play games. Again, I wish we had, you know, a game or two where you got to go work the kinks out, but that's not the stick we drew, right?"
Clemson’s offense never found any rhythm, and the numbers tell the story. Rehired offensive coordinator Chad Morris’ unit went 1-for-13 on third down, including 0-for-8 in the first half, and finished with only eight first downs.
Seven of those came in the second half with the game already out of reach. The Tigers had just one drive that lasted longer than five plays, and that came on the final series in garbage time.
LSU, meanwhile, kept stacking conversions. It had 21 first downs in the first half alone and finished 11-of-16 on third down. Swinney said the run game and the short-yardage situations were central to the damage.
"[When] you go 11-for-15 or whatever it was on third down," he credited to LSU's win. "You know, too many short yardages.
I don't know how many third-and-ones they had. There was a bunch of those that they converted.
We had a lot of second and longs where they were able to pop some runs on us and some quarterback draws. Their quarterback rushed for 113 yards, so we just didn't do a good job infecting or containing him at all."
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Clemsons LSU Opener Comes With A Roster Standoff Still Hanging
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Clemson had warned LSU that putting the players on the field could run afoul of contract terms, and LSU still has room to add them later in the season if it chooses. For now, the situation leaves one more unresolved subplot around a game that already carries plenty of attention, especially with both players having previously played for Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss. [Read more 🡒]