LSU CLAMPS DOWN CLEMSON 17-10 FOR A GUTTY, DEFENSIVE-LED ROAD WIN, ENDING A 5 YEAR WEEK 1 LOSING SKID

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By LONN PHILLIPS SULLIVAN

It was a statement game....

....While things will still take rollercoaster turns & surprising bends in the road over the rest of the 2025 college football season, for right now, LSU will be on Cloud Nine tonight:

Behind the best defensive performance LSU has registered in years, on a night they needed it most.....led by Harold Perkins' 1.5 TFLs, 5 tackles, 1 sack & devastating pressure.....guided by a mature, ice cold showing by QB Garrett Nussmeier, helped by 99 yards through the air from Aaron Anderson, and 74 gutsy yards & 1 TD on the ground via Caden Durham, Brian Kelly's 2025 LSU Tigers start the season 1-0, outlasting Dabo Swinney's highly favored Clemson 17-10 on the road @ the Fake Death Valley.

Shutting Clemson out during the entire 2nd half, giving up just 10 points total, only 31 rushing yards on 20 carries (averaging 1.6 per rush against Blake Baker's ravenous front seven), limiting Cade Klubnik to 19/38 passing for 230 yards, as relentless pressure from all sides forced one errant throw after another, Blake Baker's defense put on a masterclass display, allowing just 2 scoring drives from 11 total drive attempts...forcing turnovers, batting passes, supplying sacks, TFLs, and consistent, suffocating chaos up front for Klubnik to deal with...

LSU had to survive a slow offensive start from Joe Sloan & Cortez Hankton's 2025 crew, with just 3 points, 2 fumbles lost by pass catchers, a mere 94 passing yards & 65 on the ground at halftime...

But after LSU's hungry defense created nonstop havoc and also intercepted Klubnik (Mansoor Delane hauling in an INT to cap his all-world display tonight), the Tigers' offense began to grind away all 2nd half, maintaining possession, chipping away in the running game, while Nussmeier (230 yards, 28/38, 1 TD & 0 INTs) refused to force the issue, accepted chunk plays underneath, rushed for multiple 1st downs on a pair of rugged QB sneaks, and began finding Aaron Anderson, Zavion Thomas, and Barion Brown on quick slants or screens rather than forcing the football into dangerous situations.

LSU's players and staff may have played & called a more conservative game tonight, trusting in their defense, utilizing field position rather than continuous 4th down gambles, and trying to control proceedings during the 2nd half, but it worked beautifully.

After a poor offensive showing across the first 30 minutes, where Sloan, Nussmeier and Co wasted numerous drives and put their defense in bad spots, Blake Baker's elite group made a statement tonight, holding the rope until their offense came alive and made Clemson look desperate in the end, clawing away for any sense of rhythm as LSU defenders like Jack Pyburn, Bernard Gooden, Whit Weeks, Pat Payton, and specifically Harold Perkins dialed up the pressure & roughed up Clemson's bullied offensive line.

Harold Perkins was the talk of many analysts, fans, and commentators before the season kicked off: Would the Real Harold Perkins Please Stand Up???

Well, tonight we witnessed just a bit of what is possible, smothering ball carriers before they could get a step, carving out brilliant pressures & blitzes off the edge, inside the left or right tackle, or through the guts of Clemson's offensive line. It was a dizzying throwback performance from Perkins that culminated in his game-ending pressure & QB hit on Cade Klubnik, brutalizing and harassing the Heisman hopeful into his final incompletion of the night, a turnover on downs, and setting up Garrett Nussmeier's kneeling finish.

Whit Weeks suffered through the worst half of his LSU career over the first 30 minutes, failing to register a single tackle or statistic as he fought through obvious holds by Clemson O-linemen.

Yet in the 2nd half, Weeks came alive and produced a trio of pressures on critical downs, forcing Klubnik to run for his life deep into the netherworld no man's land of the Clemson backfield...

Mansoor Delane was targeted at least 5 times and gave up nothing, locking down all comers, and pulling down a confidence-killing interception for Klubnik, proving me right as an absolute stone cold signing out of the portal...

Even the much criticized Jardin Gilbert balled out for most of his appearances on the field, making 3 key tackles at varying points in the early parts of the game.

For the first time since 2019's opening win over Georgia Southern, LSU's defense delivered a domineering, viciously controlled defensive powerhouse, as Garrett Nussmeier and Joe Sloan's sputtering Tigers offense fought off Clemson's own valiant defensive effort, and (thanks to a touchdown apiece courtesy of Caden Durham and Trey'Dez Green, both arriving inside the red zone) LSU engineered a calculated, dictatorial statement win on the road against the #4 team in America....

Few predicted LSU would win this game (I did)...even fewer would've expected Blake Baker's defense to not only dictate terms, but complete a 2nd half shutout, frustrating and attacking QB Cade Klubnik with an explosive persistence.

Over the summer, I wrote an article highlighting this team's core identity....one born of resilience, fighting adversity, and tonight, Brian Kelly's LSU Tigers battled against wasted drives, slow starts, offensive confusion, and were even robbed of a spectacular touchdown....however, this team refused to let any of these setbacks get in their way of victory.

Who knows where this already wild 2025 campaign is heading, although due to much-favored & picked Alabama's lifeless defeat to Florida State, coupled alongside #1 Texas' humiliating 14-7 emasculation at the hands of Ohio State, and now #9 LSU's statement win over #4 Clemson, a team that is a widespread National Championship pick, Brian Kelly's 1-0 LSU Tigers are flying high with confidence & a battle-hardened foxhole mentality to start the season....

By LONN PHILLIPS SULLIVAN

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