This was supposed to be a marquee opener between two programs with something to prove. Instead, Lane Kiffin's debut in Tiger Stadium turned into a track meet in one direction. LSU finished with 644 yards of offense and rolled to a 51-10 win over Clemson, a margin that got out of hand before most fans had finished their first beer.
It started fast. LSU was dead last in the SEC in rushing a year ago, averaging just 104 yards a game, and came out running the ball down Clemson's throat from the opening whistle.
LSU was last in the SEC running the football last season (104 yards per game). Tigers already have 93 in first quarter. Dilin Jones and LSU offensive line playing bully ball.
By the time the broadcast crews were tallying live numbers, the gap had turned absurd. LSU was piling up first downs while Clemson's offense, led by Christopher Vizzina, couldn't find a rhythm at all — negative rushing yards, single-digit first downs, and a defense that had no answer for LSU's front.
LSU now out-gaining Clemson 415-62 and holds a 24-2 edge in first downs
The final was even worse than the midgame snapshot suggested. LSU's 51-10 win is Clemson's worst loss in roughly 30 years — the program hadn't been beaten that badly since a 41-0 defeat to Syracuse in the 1996 Gator Bowl — and it came in front of a sellout crowd of 102,000 that stuck around through a lightning delay that pushed kickoff back nearly two hours.
Kiffin, never one to let a blowout pass quietly, made sure everyone knew how thoroughly LSU had dominated. He reportedly told Holly Rowe at halftime, "Imagine if we had pro players," and by the time he sat down with Laura Rutledge afterward, he had an even pettier line ready — that LSU's own scout team had scored more on the starters in a mock rep last week than Clemson managed on Saturday.
Lane Kiffin tells Laura Rutledge that LSU's mock Clemson team scored more on the Tigers in their mock game last week than Clemson did on Saturday night. t.co/J4FiIKigtV
That's the kind of shot that sticks, because it doubles as a real diagnosis of where these two programs are. LSU brought in a massive transfer portal class under Kiffin; Clemson, by comparison, brought in far fewer new pieces to replace nine players lost to the NFL Draft. Kiffin didn't let Dabo Swinney's program off easy afterward, either.
Lane Kiffin calls Clemson's offense "dysfunctional" after LSU's drubbing in Tiger Stadium.
One night doesn't define a season, but it's a brutal way for Clemson to open one, and it hands Kiffin the kind of statement win that instantly reframes his tenure in Baton Rouge after a chaotic offseason. LSU will look to build on it; Clemson has to figure out, fast, whether this was a fluke or a preview.