LSU’s 51-10 win over Clemson came after a long weather delay, a late kickoff and a fast start that belonged to the Tigers from Baton Rouge.
The game was pushed back about two hours by pregame lightning and finally got underway at 8:41 p.m. local time, 9:41 p.m. ET.
Clemson was playing under rare conditions even before the ball was kicked. Prior to this one, the only two Clemson home-time-zone games to start at 9:30 p.m. or later were both played in Tokyo: the 1982 game against Wake Forest, which kicked at 11 p.m.
ET, and the 1991 game against Duke, which started at 9:30 p.m. ET.
Clemson’s next road trip, on Sept. 25 at Cal, is set for a 10:30 p.m. ET kickoff.
Clemson drew an announced crowd of 102,321, making it the third time in program history the Tigers played in front of more than 100,000 fans. The other two came in a win at Texas A&M in 2018, when 104,794 were on hand, and a loss at Texas in 2024, with 101,150 in attendance.
There was history in the matchup before the final score ever got lopsided. Clemson has now lost to LSU in 2025 and 2026, ending a stretch in which it had not dropped back-to-back games to the same opponent since losing to Florida State in three straight seasons from 2012 through 2014.
The loss also fits into a broader opening-week pattern for Clemson. The Tigers have now started three straight seasons against an AP-ranked opponent for the first time in school history.
This was their 12th season opener against an AP Top 15 team, and their fourth such opener in the last six years, the most in the nation. Clemson also opened away from home for the sixth time in the last seven seasons, and it was the eighth time under Dabo Swinney that the Tigers began the year against an SEC opponent.
Clemson did flash early on defense. Cornerback Ashton Hampton intercepted LSU on the game’s second play from scrimmage, his fourth career pick and his first since Sept. 6, 2025 against Troy. It was also the first time Clemson had picked off a pass on the opponent’s first defensive possession of the season since 2022, when Andrew Mukuba intercepted Georgia Tech on the game’s first offensive play.
There were a few individual milestones on Clemson’s side despite the result. Wide receiver T.J.
Moore extended his reception streak to 28 games, a run that has covered every game of his Clemson career. He now needs a catch in each of the next two games to become the 12th player in school history with a 30-game reception streak.
On his second catch of the night, Moore went over 1,500 career receiving yards, finishing with 1,519. He also grabbed the 100th reception of his career on an 11-yard pass from quarterback Tait Reynolds in the third quarter.
Reynolds made his collegiate debut in the second quarter and completed a seven-yard pass to Tyler Brown on his first snap. Later in the game, running back David Eziomume scored his first career touchdown on an 11-yard run in the fourth quarter. With that score, Clemson kept alive a remarkable run: the Tigers have now posted at least one rushing touchdown in a national-best-tying 98 of their 110 games since the start of the 2018 season.
Christopher Vizzina also connected on a notable first. Juju Preston turned his first career reception into a 25-yard gain in the fourth quarter.
Clemson got production from the defensive front, too. Champ Thompson was credited with two pass breakups, making him the first Clemson defensive tackle gameday stat crews have credited with two in a game since DeMonte Capehart at Florida State in 2024. Amare Adams also forced a failed two-point conversion with an uncredited sack in the third quarter.
Nolan Hauser put Clemson on the board with a 49-yard field goal on the opening drive. It was his 36th career field goal, leaving him one away from Mark Buchholz’s school mark of 37, set from 2007-08.
The loss left Clemson at 37-8 in regular season non-conference games since the start of the 2014 season, 56-14 in night games since 2015, and 10-2 in its last 12 regular season road games. The Tigers are now 95-10 since 2015 when scoring first, and this was their first loss in that situation since last year’s season opener against LSU.
Clemson also made its 31st appearance on ESPN’s College GameDay. This was GameDay’s 500th road show all-time, and Clemson has now been part of each of the program’s last two centennial-milestone road shows, including the Sugar Bowl meeting with Ohio State on Jan. 1, 2021, which was GameDay’s 400th road show.
Overall, Clemson is now 19-12 all-time in ESPN College GameDay’s featured contest, including a 10-3 record in regular season GameDay games since 2015.
In Other News...
Clemson's Opener Turned Into A Nightmare For One Brutal Reason
The opener had already been pushed back by weather, and once LSU and Clemson finally got going, the night only got rougher from there. LSU rolled to a 51-10 win, piling up 644 yards while the Tigers struggled to find any rhythm on offense and were held under 100 yards until late in the game.
Sam Leavitt was a major part of the surge, producing both on the ground and through the air as LSU kept Clemson on its heels from the start. Jordan Ross added to the damage with an interception return for a score, turning a lopsided opener into the kind of result Clemson will be talking about for a while. [Read more 🡒]
Lane Kiffin Turns Clemson Opener Into The Kind Of Spectacle LSU Wanted
The Clemson opener drew a little extra star power on the LSU side, with Lane Kiffin showing up alongside two of the most recognizable Tigers supporters in Livvy Dunne and Theo Von. Dunne, the former LSU gymnast who helped the program win a national championship, and Von, the Louisiana native and LSU alum, both brought the kind of off-field attention that has become part of the modern college football experience.
For Clemson fans, the game itself was the main attraction, but LSUs presence added another layer to the night. Kiffin has crossed paths with both Dunne and Von before through social media and media appearances, which only made the sight of the three together feel like a familiar bit of theater, the kind of spectacle that can turn even an opener into a talking point beyond the scoreboard. [Read more 🡒]
Clemson Fans Just Got A Wild Viral Moment Before Kickoff
Before kickoff in LSUs season opener against Clemson, a video making the rounds online captured a woman in LSU attire being escorted by law enforcement through a crowd near Tiger Stadium. The footage quickly became one of the stranger early storylines of the night, but it left plenty of room for interpretation because it did not show what led to the escort in the first place.
Lane Kiffins debut as LSUs head coach then took center stage once the game got underway, and the Tigers from Baton Rouge finished the night with a win over Clemson. Still, for fans heading into and out of the stadium, the viral pregame scene added an unusual footnote to a matchup that already had plenty of attention before the first snap. [Read more 🡒]