Kickoff: Saturday, September 5 at 6:30 PM CT
Location: Tiger Stadium (LA)
TV: ABC
DraftKings line (Aug. 30): LSU -10.5
Over/under: 51.5

The setup

Clemson becomes the only program to open against four AP top-11 opponents since 2021. The Tigers have turned Week 1 into the part of the schedule most teams save for November.

Personnel snapshot

• Clemson: Dabo Swinney enters Year 18 as head coach. 8 starters return—5 on offense and 3 on defense. Key offensive linemen back include Harris Sewell and Collin Sadler. Clemson’s offense averaged 392.2 yards and 27.2 points per game last season.
• Clemson quarterback: Christopher Vizzina is projected to start for Clemson. Last season, he threw for 406 yards, 4 TD and 1 INT.
• LSU: Lane Kiffin enters Year 1 as head coach. 8 starters return—5 on offense and 3 on defense. Key offensive linemen back include Weston Davis and Braelin Moore. LSU’s offense averaged 333.5 yards and 25.5 points per game last season.
• LSU quarterback: Sam Leavitt is projected to start for LSU. Last season at Arizona St, he threw for 1,628 yards, 10 TD and 3 INT.

Three quick analysis points

• The location wrinkle: This is Clemson’s first visit to LSU’s Tiger Stadium. A win would make it the first team since UAB in 2000 to win its first-ever trip to Baton Rouge.
• The history: LSU won last year’s meeting 17-10, but Clemson has not lost to the same opponent in consecutive seasons since 2014. The rematch tests a 12-year bounce-back habit.
• The quarterback angle: New LSU quarterback Sam Leavitt threw 10 touchdowns and three picks at Arizona State, but this is his first LSU start. The opener asks him to learn a new offense while one of the country’s best disruption units tries to shorten the lesson.

Prediction

I make final predictions on my TikTok/YouTube/Instagram/Facebook pages @uthinkuknowsports.

Full disclosure: I use AI tools to format my research into an article encompassing all of the information.