Lane Kiffin's first game as LSU's head coach ended with the scoreboard reading 51-10, and the gap opened faster than almost anyone expected. LSU routed Clemson at Tiger Stadium on Saturday night, turning a marquee season-opening matchup between a resurgent program and one trying to answer hard questions about its own direction into one of the most lopsided results of college football's opening weekend.
A crowd of 102,321 filled Tiger Stadium for the game, which aired nationally on ABC. Kickoff was delayed roughly two hours by lightning in the area, but once play began, LSU wasted little time separating itself from a Clemson team that had opened the season outside the AP Top 25 for the first time since 2011.
A Big Night, Then a Bigger One
Clemson actually scored first, on a 49-yard field goal from Nolan Hauser. LSU answered with a field goal of its own before taking the lead for good when Jordan Ross intercepted Clemson quarterback Christopher Vizzina and returned it 30 yards for a touchdown, making it 17-3 in the first quarter. Quarterback Sam Leavitt added two rushing touchdowns before halftime, and LSU led 31-3 at the break.
By the final whistle, according to the official box score, LSU had outgained Clemson 644 yards to 145 and out-rushed the visitors 309 yards to 40, while piling up 37 first downs to Clemson's eight. Leavitt finished 16 of 28 passing for 230 yards and a touchdown, adding 113 yards and two more scores on 12 carries. Wide receiver Winston Watkins Jr. caught seven passes for 110 yards, including a 32-yard touchdown in the third quarter, and backup quarterback Landen Clark threw a touchdown pass in relief. Running backs Dilin Jones and Phillip Wright III also found the end zone as LSU built a 51-3 lead before Clemson's David Eziomume scored on an 11-yard run in the fourth quarter for the final margin.
Vizzina, in his second year as Clemson's starter, completed 10 of 16 passes for 83 yards with the interception before giving way to freshman Tait Reynolds, who went 4 of 6 for 22 yards in his college debut.
A Program Under Scrutiny
The 41-point margin was the largest defeat of Dabo Swinney's 18 seasons as Clemson's head coach, and it landed on a program that had already entered the year under unusual doubt. Clemson fell out of the preseason poll for the first time in 15 years after a 7-6 finish in 2025, even though it returned an experienced roster built around Vizzina and a defense many expected to anchor the team. Swinney did not look for excuses afterward.
"We just got out-played, out-coached in every facet tonight. Ain't no other way to say it."
Dabo Swinney, Clemson head coach
He was equally direct about the run defense that allowed 309 yards on the ground, saying the unit had done "a really poor job setting the edge" all night.
LSU, by contrast, arrived with rising expectations of its own. Kiffin left Ole Miss for Baton Rouge in late November after six seasons that produced four ten-win campaigns, including an 11-1 finish in 2025, and he was formally introduced as LSU's 37th head coach on November 30. Picked 11th in the preseason poll, LSU rewarded that ranking with a performance that was dominant on both sides of the ball. Kiffin, who spent the offseason answering questions about how his up-tempo style would translate to a new roster, was blunt in assessing what he saw from the opposing sideline. "I didn't know they'd be that dysfunctional on offense," he said, adding that LSU's scout-team offense had outscored Clemson's during the week of practice.
Both programs get a chance to reset on September 12. LSU hosts Louisiana Tech, while Clemson returns home to face Georgia Southern at Memorial Stadium looking for its first sign of stability under a new offensive coordinator. For Kiffin, the opener offered an emphatic first impression in Baton Rouge; for Swinney, it offered a reminder of how far a once-dominant program has fallen in the eyes of the sport it used to rule.
