LSU's defense rises up, finishes off No. 4 Clemson and ends its season-opening losing streak
originally appeared on The Sporting News

CLEMSON, S.C. – Quarterback Garrett Nussmeier took a knee, turned toward the East end zone and put a finger in the air as the clock ran out. He got hugs from his offensive linemen, then disappeared in a swarm of LSU joy after No. 9 LSU held on for a messy but impactful 17-10 win at No. 4 Clemson on Saturday night.

It was high-fives, smiles and celebrations all the way off the field for Nussmeier, with the final bro-clasp/chest bump reserved for Mike the Tiger himself, with the QB giving him a ‘Let’s go, Mike!’ before a rendez-vous with his teammates in a loud LSU locker room.

The streak, that dreaded five-year losing streak of coming up short in Week 1, was over.

“So pleased for our players,” said a relieved Brian Kelly in the visitor’s tunnel of Clemson’s Death Valley. “To beat a top five team on the road, you’ve got to have some grit, and you’ve got to have the character. The kids listened to all the doubters and said, you know what? It doesn't matter. Let's just go out and play and play the right way.”

Nussmeier threw the winning touchdown pass, breaking a 10-10 tie with a pretty jump-ball touchdown to 6-foot-7 tight end Trey-Dez Green with 5:51 to play, but it was the LSU defensive players who were the stars of the night. A year ago, they gave up a 75-yard drive on the final possession of a tie-game with USC in the opener in Las Vegas, and Kelly was left pounding a table in the press conference as he lamented his team’s inability to finish.

MORE:College football week 1 overreactions

This night, the defense finished. The Tigers stopped Clemson’s final drive at the 15-yard-line, pressuring Cade Klubnik on fourth down into a wild incompletion. LSU gave up just one touchdown, a fourth-down plunge from the one-yard-line in the first half. Clemson managed just 261 total yards, including only 31 on the ground.

“We took his running game away,” Kelly said of Klubnik, who was 19 for 38 for 231 yards, no touchdowns and one interception. “We had them in some predictable downs and distances.”

The first half came down to two fourth-down plays, and both went in favor of Clemson’s Tigers. On fourth-and-goal at the one, Clemson’s Adam Randall needed all of his 235 pounds to push through three LSU defenders and reach across the goal line to give Clemson a 10-3 lead. It capped a 75-yard drive, Clemson’s first consistent offense of the night.

LSU answered with its final drive of the half, and faced a fourth-and-2 at the Clemson 12. Nussmeier hit Chris Hilton Jr., who caught the ball at the line of scrimmage. Clemson’s Ronan Hanafin punched the ball out before Hilton could get the first down, and the score remained 10-3 Clemson at the break.

The second half belonged to LSU, which held the ball for 21 minutes and overcame a tough replay overturn that would have been a touchdown, plus a missed field goal, its second of the night. But it showed resilience, something Kelly felt like he would see when his team faced adversity.

“We played with great confidence and great composure,” Kelly said.

Kelly took a gamble, putting a lot of purple and gold eggs into this opening game basket. Back in July at SEC Media Days, he shared publicly how much emphasis he was putting on this game. LSU had added orange tiger paw prints in the weight room and ‘1-0’ stickers on monitors all over the facility. The opening game losing streak, which Kelly extended from two games to five with three Week 1 losses, became a real thing with the program and, in turn, the players.

Kelly dramatically changed his team’s schedule for the final three weeks of preseason camp to mimic game weeks. There were off days on Sunday, practices Monday through Friday and a scrimmage at 6:30 p.m. Central time at Tiger Stadium. Everything pointed to this night.

MORE:Ohio State's defense does the job against Arch, Texas

With Texas looking stagnant at Ohio State and Alabama in disarray after its ugly loss to Florida State, dare we say LSU is suddenly the favorite in the SEC? Of course we do, because it is a requirement to overreact on Labor Day weekend.

Overreaction aside, this was a gutty win in a difficult environment. Kelly didn’t exactly help his team by stirring the pot over the summer, and again at his radio show this week, by poking the Clemson tiger with Death Valley Jr. comments.

In the first quarter alone, LSU had to burn two timeouts, had an illegal motion by a confused wide receiver and a false start thanks to the crowd noise.

But his team overcame all of that, and Kelly can move forward with a team that showed toughness when toughness was needed.

On the Clemson side, there was disappointment, but it knows it was just one game. The season was never going to be over for the loser. With the 12-team playoff, you can get blown out in Week 1 and make the playoff (see 2024 Clemson, 34-3 losers to Georgia). You can lose to a MAC team and make the playoff (see 2024 Notre Dame, who lost to Northern Illinois). You can lose to your underwhelming archrival in the season finale and win the national championship (hello 2024 Ohio State).

So you can certainly lose by seven to a top 10 team and come out of things OK. Even if it does extend Clemson’s SEC losing streak to four (LSU, Texas, South Carolina, Georgia).

“I really believe this is going to be one heck of a football team, when it's all said and done, I really do,” said Clemson coach Dabo Swinney. “I mean, this is going to be a really good team. Disappointed in the outcome tonight, but we’re gonna regroup and win this week.”

MORE:Grading Arch Manning's day against Ohio State

#LSU039s #defense #rises #finishes #Clemson #ends #seasonopening #losing #streak