LSU’s season opener against Clemson on Saturday night is a football game, sure. It is also a full-blown event, and maybe the most talked-about opener Tiger Stadium has ever seen.
No. 11 LSU hosting No.
23 Clemson at 6:30 p.m. on ABC does not match the rank-heavy showdowns LSU has opened with before. The Tigers faced No.
4 Alabama in 1981 and lost 24-7 in Tiger Stadium on ABC. They knocked off No.
3 Oregon, 40-27, in 2011 on ABC in Dallas. They also dropped a 45-24 game to No.
8 Florida State in Orlando in 2023. Back in 1959, defending national champion LSU opened on NBC and beat Rice, 26-3.
This one feels different for reasons that go way beyond the polls.
Lane Kiffin is making his LSU debut, and that alone has turned the opener into a national spotlight magnet. LSU’s donors pieced together a seven-year, $90 million deal for Kiffin after paying a $54 million buyout for Brian Kelly. That kind of financial swing puts pressure on everyone involved, and the expectation is plain: win big, and do it fast.
The roster overhaul is just as dramatic. LSU is bringing in 60 new players, with 41 coming through the NCAA Transfer Portal in January and 19 more from high school and junior college recruiting.
The portal group includes three No. 1 transfers at their positions: junior quarterback Sam Leavitt at approximately $4 million a year, junior offensive tackle Jordan Seaton at approximately $3 million a year, and senior edge Princewill Umanmielen in the $1 million range. In all, LSU has 11 players ranked in the top 12 at their position, and the total roster cost was between $40 and $50 million.
More than half of the class - 21 players - are sophomores and freshmen.
There’s also the visibility. College GameDay is coming to LSU for the first season opener in the show’s history, and Tiger Stadium set a record this week with approximately 900 credentialed media members and celebrities. With the national audience that comes with ABC, no LSU opener has ever had more eyes on it.
The buildup has not exactly been limited to football. Temporary restraining orders, preliminary injunctions and lawsuits have dominated the August conversation, and LSU fans are more than ready to move on from the courtroom and into the stadium. LSU also decided late Friday not to add former NFL roster members Dae’Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris to the roster for the opener.
On the field, Kiffin arrives with a reputation LSU has never really had in a head coach: a true offensive play-caller’s brain at the top of the program. Nick Saban was a defensive coordinator.
Charles McClendon and Bill Arnsparger were defensive coordinators. Les Miles had offensive roots, but not as a play caller.
Kiffin is different. He no longer calls the plays himself, but he directs them through offensive coordinator Charlie Weis, his former play caller from his Ole Miss years and a longtime partner from Alabama.
That setup points toward a fast LSU offense, but not one built only on speed. Kiffin and Weis both like to run the ball, and LSU is expected to have a strong run-blocking offensive line for the first time since 2019. Still, Kiffin’s identity remains tied to the passing game and quarterback development.
The anticipation has been building for months, and Kiffin sounded like he knew exactly what this night means.
“Excited for it to finally be here,” Kiffin said Wednesday on the SEC teleconference, speaking for his entire fan base, whether he realized it or not. “This has been eight months we’ve been here - at least.
All leading up to this first performance. Our fans are really excited, the state.
Our university has put a lot (of money) into us. And trusted us with a big time job to turn around LSU football to get it back to where they want it to be.
I don’t take that lightly. So, that’s why we’ve worked the way that we have.
That’s why we’ve competed in every area to give our fans the best performance, starting with the first performance on Saturday.”
He added:
“Showtime’s real man, it’s a performance,” Kiffin said. “And we want a performance where we win, and so that people want to come back and that the stadium’s always full. And people are fighting to get into the stadium.”
At this point, LSU just needs the game to start.
In Other News...
LSU Fans Had Plenty To Say About GameDay In Baton Rouge
Baton Rouge got the full College GameDay treatment to open the season, and Lainey Wilson was right in the middle of it. Ahead of her turn as the Week 1 celebrity guest picker, the Louisiana native performed the shows intro song and then rolled into her hit Cant Sit Still, giving LSU fans an early jolt before the real football talk took over.
The reaction online was quick and mixed, with plenty of viewers taking aim at both Wilsons performance and ESPNs decision to alter the familiar GameDay opening. Even so, not every fan was bothered by the change, and some seemed more welcoming of Wilsons presence than other parts of the broadcast. For a show built on tradition, it was a reminder that even a familiar Saturday ritual can still stir up a debate in Tiger country. [Read more 🡒]
LSU Drama Just Drew A Warning Tigers Fans Can't Ignore
The eligibility dispute around LSU and former NFL players has already escaped the usual offseason noise and turned into something much bigger, with Paul Finebaum weighing in sharply on the back-and-forth involving Lane Kiffin, the Tigers and the SEC. Finebaum praised commissioner Greg Sankey and the conference presidents for how they handled the matter, but his comments also underscored how quickly a rules question can become a referendum on the people running a program.
For LSU, the uncomfortable part is not just the original issue, but the way it has invited scrutiny about leadership and the possibility of larger fallout if the situation keeps escalating. Finebaum even floated the idea that SEC presidents could talk about removing LSU from the league, though he made clear that outcome is unlikely, which is a reminder of how much tension this episode has created around a program that would rather be talking about football. [Read more 🡒]
College GameDay Took A Strange Turn Before LSU Clemson Even Kicked Off
ESPNs College GameDay got the kind of Baton Rouge welcome nobody had on the script for LSU-Clemson, as lightning forced the network to hit pause during its 40th season kickoff show. What was supposed to be the usual charged, early-morning buildup around the Tigers instead turned into a weather delay that sent the crew scrambling and changed the feel of the entire broadcast before the game even started.
When the show came back, it did so from inside an empty theater, a sharp contrast to the packed scene fans expected from one of college footballs biggest opening weekends. The interruption and relocation quickly became part of the conversation around the day, a strange little pregame wrinkle that stood out almost as much as the matchup itself. [Read more 🡒]