LSU vs CLEMSON: 2025 WEEK 1 ULTIMATE PREVIEW & PREDICTION PIECE | SIMILAR TOP 10 TEAMS SET FOR COLISSION COURSE

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By LONN PHILLIPS SULLIVAN

Follow @LonnPhillips

What an absolutely deliciously poised battle royale we have for Week 1 of the 2025 season:

LSU travels to South Carolina to face #4 Clemson in a kickoff showdown representing a pair of schools with stadiums claiming the title of Death Valley & the Tiger mascot, a pair of Heisman finalist QBs, two of the best defensive fronts in the game, two of the game's top head coaches (Brian Kelly's vast experience at smaller universities punching up took him to the pinnacle of the game, including a National Championship Game appearance, while Clemson is still helmed by 2x National Championship-winning Head Coach Dabo Swinney)...but this is also a rematch of the 2019/2020 College Football Playoff National Championship Game (and 1958 de facto title game), a powerhouse duo of programs ready for a two season collision course to open 2025 and 2026...

But neither team has done well in Week 1 as of late, Clemson losing their past two opening games while LSU unthinkably dropped their past 5 openers (3 under Brian Kelly, 2 with Orgeron as coach)...

So, this top 10 showdown will kickoff with some questions swirling around Clemson's "Death Valley" concerning both coaches, rosters & programs:

Clemson may be haunted by trying to replicate their past, while LSU is doing everything it can to turn the clocks back...

Is Dabo Swinney finally over his extended malaise??? An endless lost weekend of his coaching career that cost him an aimless, wilderness-bound 4 straight seasons with 3 or 4 defeats, settling for Cheez-It & Gator bowls as he adjusted to the new world of college football at a glacier pace???

After years in the background, is this the new look Clemson for their next golden era, following up last season's improved ACC Championship and CFP First Round appearance???

Brian Kelly's Tigers are finally at the place they need to be in order to win National Championships....let alone even compete: the largest NIL investment in program history, 20 transfers signed through the portal in December/January & the Spring, a returning starter at QB with high NFL pedigree, the best D-line (on paper) we've seen at LSU since 2019, WRU's deepest collection of grade A pass catching talent since 2019, one of, if not the strongest group of assistants on any staff around the country....

Neither program have any excuses, nowhere to hide, and despite a few potential key MIAs, there are currently no major injuries LSU or Clemson could blame for a loss....

Though lazy pregame headlines will center around a QB duel between LSU's Garrett Nussmeier & Clemson's Cade Klubnik, the true test of these teams will lie within their trenches:

LSU's brand new O-line vs Clemson's highly touted, veteran D-line is the easy pick, due to the Tigers replacing 4 of their starting 5 from last season as well as Clemson's star power up front (potential 1st round D-linemen Peter Woods & TJ Parker combined for 29 TFLs and 14 sacks last fall), but the battle between the Tigers' neglected (potentially elite) defensive front against Clemson's veteran O-line (that is likely to miss their most experienced leader, Walker Parks, after a recent Fall Camp injury) will be the main, key battle, in my view.

If LSU's defensive line make plays up front, stuffing a less than reliable Clemson rushing game (their entire rushing room each recorded less than 200 yards over their whole career) & if Kevin Peoples & Kyle Williams' ravenous front sustains pressure on Klubnik, we will witness the best of Harold Perkins & Whit Weeks, potentially the two most electric defensive playmakers in the SEC.

If that happens, LSU's offense should possess the ability (through their QB & skill position weapons) to finish a close game off, and while many have debated if 2025 LSU will be able to run the football or not, the Tigers' running game didn't possess the downfield threats capable of stretching a defense like they have now, and overall, Frank Wilson's RBs room should be the better ground attack between the two teams, keeping in mind Caden Durham's freshman masterclass (over 1,000 total yards & 8 total TDs in a poor offensive setup against a stacked box) as well as the experience, pedigree & prospects of Kaleb Jackson, Harlem Berry, & the mercurial brilliance of Ju’Juan Johnson.

LSU's rushing attack may not be perfect, but their production far outweighs what we've seen from Clemson's room (freshman RB Gideon Davidson is the most promising of the bunch, Jay Haines, Keith Adams Jr, Jarvis Green, Adam Randall, and David Eziomume).

Also, LSU's new look secondary must be on high alert against two fantastic receivers, senior Antonio Williams (904 yards & an ACC-leading 11 touchdown catches last season) and sophomore star Bryant Wesco Jr (his 707 yards was 3rd in the country for freshman receivers, only trailing Jeremiah Smith & Ryan Williams)....

With a pair of strong quarterbacks & aerial attacks canceling each other out, this tilt-a-whirl bloodbath will come down to which team chews up more yards on the ground, which secondary bends first....and in a game between a pair of mad-eyed-moody opponents, holding plenty of history against each other, from National Championship Games, or an ongoing war to find out who is the rightful Death Valley, this ultimate Week 1 festival of blood and bone will be decided by the last team to take a bite out of the other.

PREDICTION

This will be a game won by the more physical defense and by the offense that finishes down inside the red zone, which is why I believe LSU will defeat a very talented Clemson team.

I am worried, sometimes petrified about the offensive line...but at other times, I can see a large mass of white light at the end of this dark tunnel, where Brad Davis' starting five may not be perfect or anywhere close, and still, I'll be a little stunned if they turned out to be a poor unit.

Kelly hired Alex Atkins to help carry that run blocking load and devise a running game to make it work...and if LSU still are incapable of imposing their will, especially considering Brian Kelly's recent comments calling his offensive front "really really good...", it would be disastrous for LSU's 2025 offensive outlook.

Yet somehow, even with all that uncertainty up front, I believe in the ability of Caden Durham and Kaleb Jackson to create their own running lanes, break tackles, and still gain yards with a highly questioned O-line, give the Tigers an upper hand on the ground, while Clemson's highly touted D-line won't be the only physically impressive / violently imposing defensive front on the field, either, as I expect LSU's D-line, edge and secondary investments to pay major dividends when new transfer arrival Tigers such as Jack Pyburn, Mansoor Delane, AJ Haulcy, Bernard Gooden, and Patrick Payton make plays, frustrate & intimidate Klubnik, and eventually close out a wild rollercoaster ride of a contest with one final clutch stop.

It won't be perfect....

It will be ugly at times.....

But this is an early meeting that is so quick off the mat for both rosters, you wonder how that'll affect defensive errors, allowing big plays, possible offensive line penalties amid the Fake Death Valley's raucous atmosphere...even a key injury could play a main role....

Tipped as likely the "greatest ever Week 1 matchup", with both teams inside the top 10, and championship aspirations & organizational / roster alignment taking place for both programs, we may be seeing these two face off later on down the road before all is said and done...

I know this is an unfamiliar, first time offensive line unit up against one of, if not the best defensive line squads in America....

I understand this is an unfamiliar secondary thrown into a major Week 1 battle against three great receivers....

But unfamiliar doesn't mean incompetent or incapable...although I expect early issues will need to be ironed out by smart coaching adjustments as the game goes along.

It will be 60 minutes of suffering for both teams....

Yet, due to the fact Brian Kelly and LSU need this win more, almost to the point of this matchup representing a de facto playoff game for the Tigers (facing a daunting SEC schedule to follow), the stakes are higher for LSU....and because of that fact alone, I think, thanks to big performances by Nussmeier, Hilton, both Weeks brothers, and Durham, the real Tigers ride early errors, momentum swings, and Clemson's best shot and get it done @ the Fake Death Valley.

LSU 38

CLEMSON 34

By LONN PHILLIPS SULLIVAN

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