Clemson’s trip to Baton Rouge in Week 1 is looking more and more like a live upset shot, at least if you buy into the latest bowl projection chatter around LSU.
On3’s Brett McMurphy has LSU missing the College Football Playoff entirely and heading to the Music City Bowl to face Minnesota, while Clemson is projected for the Duke’s Mayo Bowl against Michigan. Those are just projections, of course, but they paint the same picture: neither Tigers team is being viewed as a true playoff lock, and LSU in particular is drawing skepticism despite opening as a 10.5-point favorite at FanDuel Sportsbook.
That matters because the opener is no soft landing. Clemson goes into Tiger Stadium as the unranked team, but the gap between these two may not be as wide as the betting line suggests. The latest projections only add fuel to that idea.
The bigger edge for Clemson might not be talent, but continuity. LSU is essentially a new operation under Lane Kiffin, who rebuilt the roster through the transfer portal and brought in players like Sam Leavitt, Jordan Seaton, and Ty Benefield.
That kind of overhaul can look great on paper. It takes time to mesh in real games.
Clemson, meanwhile, has been living in the same system for years under Dabo Swinney. This will be Year 18 for Swinney.
Matt Luke is entering Year 3 as offensive line coach, Tom Allen is in Year 2 as defensive coordinator, and Chad Morris is back in the building. That stability gives Clemson a real chance to be sharper early, even if LSU eventually proves to have more ceiling.
The source of the skepticism is simple: Kiffin is trying to blend what made Ole Miss so dangerous a year ago with what he hopes are better pieces at LSU, and that’s a tough ask in Week 1. College football teams do not usually snap into place overnight, especially when a staff is still figuring out how all the parts fit.
So while LSU may still have the better roster on paper, Clemson’s path to keeping this close is easy to see. The Tigers from South Carolina are coming off a season that left them hungry, and if they are going to force the conversation about LSU’s supposed hype, this is the kind of game that can do it.
Maybe Clemson doesn’t finish the job. But the latest projection buzz suggests the gap is small enough for the underdog Tigers to make this opener far more dangerous than the national conversation seems to think.
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Clemson Is Battling To Stay Ahead In A Fast-Rising Legacy Recruitment
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For Clemson, the challenge now is staying out front as the list of suitors keeps growing. Schell is expected to trim his top schools soon, yet for the moment he remains focused on what happens between the lines, leaving the Tigers to keep building on the early edge they created and hope it lasts once the recruitment starts to tighten. [Read more 🡒]