Clemson Loses ‘Battle Of Death Valleys’ To LSU

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by WILL FOLKS

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When it comes to Death Valleys, there can be only one… and for the foreseeable future in college football, it resides in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

No. 9 LSU outlasted No. 4 Clemson 17-14 in a pivotal early-season tussle of Tigers on Saturday night (August 30, 2025) at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, S.C. The Bayou Bengals’ gritty, come-from-behind road win was their first season-opening victory since 2019 – the year the program claimed its most recent national championship.

That season, incidentally, was capped by a blowout win over Clemson in the national championship game – a victory which broke the Tigers’ school record streak of 29 consecutive wins.

Meeting for the first time since that championship clash, LSU (1-0, 0-0 SEC) was led by senior quarterback Garrett Nussmeier – a preseason second-team All-American – who completed 28 of 38 passes (73.7%) for 230 yards and one touchdown. The 6-foot-1, 205-pound signal caller from Lake Charles, Louisiana out-dueled Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik – the preseason first-team All-American – who entered the game as the frontrunner for the Heisman Trophy.

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Klubnik completed 19 of 38 passes (50%) for 230 yards with no touchdowns and one interception – surrendering his Heisman frontrunner status to Nussmeier.

In fairness to the 6-foot-2, 210-pound Austin, Texas native, he was let down by an offensive line which failed to protect him on passing downs – and failed to help Clemson establish anything resembling a running game. The hometown Tigers managed a meager 32 yards on the ground against LSU – while Klubnik was sacked twice and hurried on multiple other critical downs.

By contrast, LSU generated 110 rushing yards against Clemson – which boasts one of the best defensive lines in football thanks to All-Americans  Peter Woods and T.J. Parker, each of whom is projected as a Top Ten NFL draft pick next spring.

Sophomore Caden Durham paced LSU with 74 yards on 17 carries – including a game-tying 2-yard touchdown run midway through the third quarter.

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Klubnik was also without his top receiving target, junior wideout Antonio Williams – who pulled up lame on the second play of Clemson’s second possession with an apparent hamstring injury. The 5-foot-10, 190-pound junior from Irmo, S.C. briefly visited the injury tent before heading to the locker room. He did not return to the field and no update on his status for next weekend’s game against Troy was provided.

Willams early exit ended a streak of 33 consecutive games in which he recorded at least one reception for Clemson.

With Williams sidelined – and Clemson unable to move the ball on the ground – LSU was able to dominate time of possession, holding the ball for 37:10 compared to Clemson’s 22:50.

“We didn’t play anywhere near what we’re capable of being offensively,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney acknowledged after the game.

Klubnik took responsibility for the offense’s failure to launch.

“I didn’t play very well,” he said. “I gotta play better. Didn’t put our offense and our team in the best situation to win.”

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As for the loss of Williams, Swinney said it was “obviously big” but pointed out “we had plenty of opportunities, and we didn’t capitalize.”

That’s accurate… Clemson’s defense gave Klubnik and Co. three tries to tie the game in the fourth quarter, but those possessions ended with the Tigers either turning the ball over on downs or being forced to punt.

LSU head coach Brian Kelly – who was 0-3 in season openers at LSU prior to Saturday evening – praised his unit for its “grit.”

“You go on the road and play a top five team, you better bring a defense,” Kelly said.

LSU’s margin of victory could have been wider were it not for an inexplicably bad call by the Southeastern Conference (SEC) officiating crew – a call which negated a 29-yard touchdown pass from Nussmeier to Kentucky transfer Barion Brown that appeared to put LSU ahead 17-10 with just under five minutes left in the third quarter. In consultation with video replay officials, however, referees ruled Brown failed to complete the catch as he landed out of bounds – despite multiple camera angles showing him catching the ball inbounds and maintaining possession to the ground.

Luckly for LSU fans, the botched call did not prove decisive. The visiting Tigers scored on the next possession, with Nussmeier finding his massive 6-foot-7, 240-pound tight end – Trey’Dez Green – for an eight-yard scoring strike to cap an 11-play, 73-yard drive.

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Terrible call. https://t.co/1LrwiYKCzY

— FITSNews (@fitsnews) August 31, 2025

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Clemson has now lost three season-openers in a row – one at home, one on the road and one at a neutral location. In addition to Saturday’s loss, the Tigers fell to then-No. 1 Georgia in Atlanta last year and were defeated by Duke in Durham to open their 2023 campaign.

Despite those losses, Clemson rallied to finish in the Top 20 both seasons – and made the expanded College Football Playoff (CFP) field last year. They’ve also won ten or more games in thirteen of the last fourteen seasons – and finished in the AP Top 25 for fourteen consecutive seasons.

Still, Tiger fans aren’t interested in ten-win seasons or Top 25 finishes. They want national championships. Clemson made the four-team CFP field every year from 2015-2020 – winning titles in 2016 and 2018 and making the championship game following the 2015 and 2019 seasons.

Can Swinney lead Clemson back to the promised land in 2025? Early returns are not promising, as Clemson’s “throttle back” from its peak performances of 2015-2020 appears to be persisting this season.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…

Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.

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