Lane Kiffin was the talk of the preseason college football season. He abandoned his team that had a clear path to a national championship for a team with the potential to eventually get there. That team is LSU and it beat Clemson into oblivion on Saturday night, crushing them 51-10 in Week 1 of the college football season. We can agree that LSU is really, really good. Sam Leavitt dominated, and he still left room for improvement. Clemson’s offensive and defensive lines look far inferior to LSU’s.
LSU looked like a team that could realistically make noise in the SEC and potentially the College Football Playoff; but it didn’t look like the best team in the country. Maybe, Clemson was just that bad.
LSU’s Week 1 win is less about LSU and more about Clemson
Christopher Vizzina made his first start for Clemson and it was forgettable. In fact, the most memorable part of his performance was an interception that was returned for a touchdown during the game. Clemson was severely outmatched. The Tigers just aren’t the same power it used to be and after the loss against LSU, we have to start considering that Clemson just might not be a good football program (right now).
Clemson couldn’t move the ball, settling for less than 150 total yards in the game. It couldn’t stop LSU, giving up nearly 350 all-purpose yards to Leavitt and 644 total offensive yards. Clemson plays Georgia Southern this week and their confidence is higher than most Group of 6 teams’ confidence in these types of games.
Georgia Southern DB Aaron Sears was asked if Clemson is vulnerable heading into this week:
“I don’t like jumping the gun, but once I’ve seen some of the things I’ve seen, I was smiling pretty happy about our odds going into the game this week.” pic.twitter.com/hSEkuBeh9T
— Grayson Mann (@gray_mann21) September 8, 2026
Considering everything Kiffin had to put up with this offseason, building his villain arc, he still put together one of the most impressive Week 1 performances.
For teams like Oregon and Michigan that had mundane performances against inferior opponents, Kiffin’s debut at LSU looks masterful and should be treated as such. Two things can be true, though. Kiffin and LSU can look really impressive while still not looking like the best college football team in America. Consistency is key. It’s one game — albeit a damn good one — but LSU isn’t quite there yet.
Why LSU isn’t the best college football team after statement win
Clemson was a seven-win team last year that started 1-3 before winning six of the last eight regular season games. That’s not the recipe of a team that’s contending. The year before, the Tigers backdoored their way into the College Football Playoff with an ACC title game win. We have to start considering that Clemson isn’t the team it thinks it is. Why is what LSU did to Clemson considerably different than what Notre Dame did to Wisconsin or Miami to Stanford?
Yes, we expect Wisconsin and Stanford to get beat by the current powers in college football, but isn’t it fair to say that Clemson closer to that class of Power 4 team than to the LSUs and Georgias of college football? Since 2021, Clemson is 4-8 against SEC teams, with their only wins coming against South Carolina (three times) and Kentucky.
LSU did exactly what it needed to do in Week 1. The Tigers needed to put all doubt aside that they were performative. They plucked Ole Miss players from the transfer portal and pushed back against the SEC to allow players that declared for and dressed for NFL teams this summer to be allowed to play in college again. Everything about what LSU has done this offseason has been dramatic.
When they stepped on the field, it was business as usual, Lane Kiffin as usual and the start of a new era in Baton Rouge. LSU is a very good football team, but after one game, the Tigers aren’t the best team in college football. They can be, though.
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