Clemson walked into Tiger Stadium knowing it had opened the season 0-1 in each of the previous three years and five times in the last six seasons. So, this was supposed to be a chance to show some fight. Instead, they got their “a–es kicked.” And as Dabo Swinney said, getting it over with became the best thing about Clemson’s 51-10 demolition at LSU.
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Dabo Swinney did not need much time to find the problem. The Post and Courier’s Jackson Castellano reported that he was particularly unhappy with his defense, saying “nobody” on that side of the ball put anything good on tape against LSU.
“We gave up 300 yards rushing,” he said.
That figure was actually a little worse than that. LSU finished with 309 rushing yards and 644 total yards, the most Clemson has surrendered during Dabo Swinney’s tenure. RB Dilin Jones and QB Sam Leavitt both crossed the 100-yard mark on the ground, exposing a Clemson defense that kept struggling to contain the edges.
LSU also converted 11 of 16 third downs and went 1-for-1 on fourth down. Clemson had no such answer. They managed only 145 total yards, eight first downs, and one conversion on 13 third-down opportunities. Their offense produced just three points outside a late touchdown, while LSU kept piling on the damage.
By the fourth quarter, much of the crowd had already headed for the exits. But the locker room afterward did not resemble the disaster on the scoreboard. Dabo Swinney said his players handled the loss better than expected.
“They’ve been great,” he said of the locker room vibe later. “We’ve got great kids, got great leadership. They were awesome and I didn’t really have to say much, they were awesome. Actually in the locker room after the game they were awesome in the meeting. These guys really, truly care a lot. They know the things that we’ve got to do better for sure.”
RB Gideon Davidson offered a similar explanation, insisting the Tigers do not lack talent. He attributed the struggles to ‘mental mistakes’ that he believes the Tigers can fix before the following week. Senior center Harris Sewell said practicing for the next game is the best solution to block the outside noise.
“I’m looking forward to this week, just to get this bad taste out of my mouth,” he said. “I think the main way to balance those is just to go practice. Once you practice you kind of just get to move on.”
That is the challenge now. Clemson finished 7-6 last season after entering the year ranked No. 4 nationally. The program’s recent slide has fueled questions about Dabo Swinney’s future despite his two national championships, nine ACC titles, and a 187-53 record entering this season.
LSU exposed a team with far more problems than one bad night should create. Georgia Southern arrives at Memorial Stadium in Week 2. Clemson now has one game to show that LSU was just an ugly exception.