By: Griffin Jones
On Saturday August 30th, 2025 the number 8 ranked LSU Tigers traveled to Memorial Stadium to take on the number 4 ranked Clemson Tigers in a highly anticipated matchup. There was an unbelievable amount of hype coming into this game as this was the first time the 2 teams faced off since January 13th, 2019 where LSU topped Clemson 42-25 in the National Championship. While the two teams have played formerly, LSU leading 4-1, this was the first game inside of either team’s stadium which are both labeled as “Death Valley”. The high rankings along with the possible revenge lead fans to call this game the battle to be the “Real Death Valley”.
Coming into the game the spread was Clemson favored by -4.5 as they returned 81% of their offensive talent and 75% of their defensive talent, this combined with a great offseason and a home field advantage led many to believe this was Clemson’s game to win. LSU however returned 65% of offensive production and 59% of defensive production losing much of their offensive line and receiving core. However, using the transfer portal LSU was able to instantly replace their positions of need with equal or similar talent.
Despite both teams returning diverse numbers of talent, they each came into the season labeled to have a top five skilled rosters in the country. All of this skill along with a Heisman hopeful quarterback on each team excited some to the point where they were saying this would be the “Game of the Year”.
Entering the game LSU players were greeted by 80,000+ Clemson fans who were starving for a big win. A 7:30 kickoff time only fed into the excitement of the roaring fans. Clemson won the coin toss and decided to defer and the game was under way.
The first play from scrimmage LSU’s star sophomore running back Caden Durham shook off a tackle and ran for a gain of 24 yards leaving them just shy of Clemson territory. The Tigers gained 1 more first down getting to the Clemson 40 but after that stalled, leaving out at a 3 & 11. As this was the biggest play of the game at this point the fans were deafening during a huge third down on the first drive. This caused Quarterback Garrett Nussmeier to call a timeout due to the screams. The rest of the first half was filled with many unsuccessful with LSU’s offense looking superior throughout. Despite this, Clemson’s lead in the turnover battle along with a strong drive in the second quarter helped them head into the half with a 10-3 lead over LSU.
However, this lead would be short lived as LSU’s dominance of time of possession, Clemson’s inability to establish the run game, and an interception thrown in the second half turned things LSU’s way. As they tied the game 10-10 with a Caden Durham touchdown and took the lead with a 1on1 endzone ball to 6 ‘7 receiver Trey’dez Green. Once LSU claimed the lead they never let it go, despite Clemson’s best effort on their final drive they came up just short of forcing overtime. As Klubnik was pressured into a poor throw on 4th down from LSU’s 15 with just under a minute left.
I believe that these are two playoff teams who have a lot of potential this year if they reach their full ability. Although Clemson lost, I think Troy will help them get some confidence and hopefully bounce back in the future and figure things out in what seems like a strong ACC this year.
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