Football

NO.4 CLEMSON LOSES DEFENSIVE STRUGGLE 17-10 TO NO.9 LSU

2025-09-02 10:48:20
0

By Trevor Groves

CLEMSON, SC - Well, that was a gut punch! It was an unbelievable atmosphere in Death Valley, and Clemson never trailed until the 4th quarter. But in the end, LSU made one more critical play than Clemson did, and that was the difference in the game. An incredible pass by Nussmeier to the pylon with tight coverage gave LSU the winning touchdown in the 4th quarter. It looked for all the world like Clemson would send the game to overtime, but its drive came up 20 yards short and turned it over on downs with a minute left. Harold Perkins, Jr., who I wrote about in my preview and asked both Dabo and Garrett Riley about last week, made the other play of the game, forcing Cade to throw the ball away on 4th down to end the game.

The Clemson offensive line was by far the biggest disappointment. He was only sacked twice, but the line simply could not stop the LSU pass rush, and Cade was constantly running for his life, giving the receivers no time to get open. Adam Randall's first career rush TD was a big one on 4th down for the first touchdown of the game, but he only finished with 5 carries for 16 yards, and the Tigers only rushed for 31 yards as a team. Riley probably should have committed to the run more, but they only had 58 plays. Transfer WR Tristan Smith didn't even see the field, and that was a disappointment for me. Of course, Antonio Williams was also knocked out of the game in the 1st quarter, and that was huge. Tyler Brown made a couple good plays in the 4th, but I believe Clemson wins if Antonio Williams hadn't left the game. Dabo told me after the game that he didn't yet know his status, but Antonio was on the bike and jogging on the sideline, so hopefully he will be back soon.

As disappointing as the loss is, there were some positives to take away from the game for Clemson. The defense was outstanding, holding a potential Heisman quarterback and a great offense to just 10 points until the 4th quarter. However, transfer Will Heldt had the Tigers' only sack. The defense also recovered 2 fumbles, and Clemson won the turnover margin 2-1. I thought that if the Tigers won the turnover margin that they would certainly win the game, maybe even by a couple touchdowns, but this was a rare exception. TE Patt-Henry made an unbelievable catch, and freshman TE Bettancur also had a couple catches, which is encouraging. And the Tigers will get TE Ian Schieffelin back for the Troy game. Also, I thought Jack Smith had a good game at punter. Nolan Hauser was 1-2 on field goals, but the LSU kicker also missed one. Hauser also made his first career punt on a fake field goal.

It's tough to begin a season with a loss at home, and this is the Tigers' 3rd loss to open the season in the last 4 years, but don't panic! With the 12-team playoff, the Tigers will be just fine. Look at how bad the second half against Georgia was in the opener last season, and the Tigers still made the playoff. They scored just 3 points but went on to have one of the best offenses in the country, and practically the whole offense is back. I still believe this team will win the ACC and have an excellent chance to win the natty! Clemson shouldn't fall to worse than 10 or 11 in the rankings, and everyone will feel much better about this team after the Troy game!

Post-game interviews and notes are below!

GAME NOTES

Head Coach Dabo Swinney coached his 228th game to pass Bobby Bowden (227 during Florida State’s membership in the ACC) for the most total games coached as an ACC head coach.
Quarterback Cade Klubnik completed 19-of-38 passes for 230 yards.
Klubnik recorded 200 yards of total offense (combined rushing and passing yards) in a 14th straight game to take sole possession of the school record in that category. Klubnik's streak surpassed Deshaun Watson's 13-game streak of games with 200 or more combined rushing and passing yards from 2016.
Running back Adam Randall scored the first rushing touchdown of his career on a one-yard run on fourth and goal in the second quarter.
The score was Randall’s third overall touchdown of his career, joining his two receiving touchdowns as a wide receiver last season.
Clemson has now scored at least one rushing touchdown in a national-best 88 of its 97 games since the start of the 2018 season.
Clemson has now rushed for a touchdown in 61 consecutive home games, the nation’s longest active streak. The last team to hold Clemson without a rushing touchdown in Death Valley was Troy in 2016.
Wide receiver Bryant Wesco Jr. led Clemson with 66 receiving yards on four receptions. Wesco shared the team lead in receptions with T.J. Moore and Tyler Brown (four each).
Wide receiver Antonio Williams exited the game with an injury in the first quarter. The injury snapped his streak of 33 consecutive games played with a reception. It was the seventh-longest streak in school history and covered each of the first 33 games of his career.
Clemson recorded the game’s first takeaway in the first quarter when cornerback Avieon Terrell forced a fumble that safety Ricardo Jones recovered and returned 24 yards.
The forced fumble was the fourth of Terrell’s career, and the fumble recovery was the first of Jones’ career.
The takeaway by Terrell and Jones set up Clemson for a 42-yard Nolan Hauser field goal to open the game’s scoring.
Defensive end Will Heldt recorded his first sack as a Tiger in the second quarter. It was the sixth sack of his career, including five in his two seasons at Purdue.
Clemson recorded a fourth down stop late in the second quarter deep in its own territory by recording its second takeaway of the game. Safety Ronan Hanafin forced his first career fumble, which was recovered by safety Kylon Griffin.
Hanafin finished the game with a career-high 12 tackles in his first career start.
Clemson recorded a 2-1 advantage in turnovers. Clemson has now finished even or better in the turnover margin in 14 straight games for the first time since a 17-game streak across the 1989-90 seasons. Dating to the 2023 season, Clemson has lost the turnover margin only once in its last 20 games.
Clemson is now 101-8 under Swinney when it wins the turnover margin.
The game was Clemson’s 74th game under Dabo Swinney in which it recovered multiple fumbles. Clemson is now 68-6 in those contests.
Linebacker Sammy Brown recorded 11 tackles, his fourth career double-digit tackle game according to gameday stat crews.
Clemson dropped 15-14 all-time in games between two teams ranked in the AP Top 10.
Clemson is now 12-3 against ranked opponents in Death Valley since 2015.
Clemson’s school-record streak of 21 consecutive victories in home openers concluded.
Clemson dropped to 120-3 in its last 123 games when holding teams to fewer than 23 points, a span that dates to the middle of the 2010 season.
Clemson is now 40-13 in one-possession games since the start of the 2011 season.
Clemson opened a season against an AP Top 10 team for the eighth time in school history. It marked Clemson's third time opening a season at home against an AP Top 10 team, joining its 1977 opener against Maryland and 2013 debut against Georgia.
Clemson opened a season at home for the first time since 2019. No member of Clemson's roster had previously opened a season with the Tigers at home.
Clemson opened the season against an SEC opponent for the seventh time under Head Coach Dabo Swinney.
Clemson played its ninth August game all-time and its fifth under the leadership of Dabo Swinney.
Captains for the contest were quarterback Cade Klubnik, offensive tackle Blake Miller, linebacker Wade Woodaz and defensive tackle Peter Woods.

MORE CLEMSON FOOTBALL COVERAGE HERE

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