By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports
CLEMSON, S.C. – When you agree to schedule a college football game, you never know how it will eventually transpire.
For instance, in July 2018, then-Clemson athletic director and former LSU senior associate athletic director Dan Radakovich, along with then-LSU deputy athletic director Verge Ausberry, finalized a contract for a home-and-home series in 2025 at Clemson and 2026 at LSU.
“We agreed we should play in the regular season,” Ausberry said. “We’d only played each other in bowl games.”
Ausberry, now LSU’s executive deputy director of athletics, and now-University of Miami athletic director Radakovich couldn’t have dreamed how their scheduling agreement has blossomed into probably one of the biggest season-opening games in LSU history.
The No. 9 Tigers of LSU are desperately trying to break a streak of five straight season-opening losses when they play the No. 4 Tigers of Clemson here Saturday at 6:30 p.m. CT. Clemson is a 3½-point favorite.
It’s a battle of quarterbacks Garrett Nussmeier of LSU and Cade Klubnik of Clemson, a pair of Heisman Trophy favorites.
It’s a matchup of two vastly different recruiting philosophies, with LSU head coach Brian Kelly annually pilfering the transfer portal and Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney barely dipping his toes in portal waters.
It’s bragging rights for which school can boast that is has the most intimidating “Death Valley,” the nickname for both Clemson’s Memorial Stadium and LSU’s Tiger Stadium.
“I’ve been pretty vocal that I love our roster,” said Kelly, who’s starting his fourth year guiding a program he had to rebuild. “I like the depth of the roster and the competitiveness. Does that guarantee you wins? No. The reality of it is we still have to go out and play.”
Increased available NIL funds and a vastly improved player personnel department led to Kelly signing the nation’s No. 1-ranked portal class last December and January. Probably eight or nine players of LSU’s 18-man transfer portal signees are expected to start vs. Clemson. Several others will see extensive action.
LSU learned on Thursday that projected starting safety A.J. Haulcy, a transfer from Houston, must sit out the first half of Saturday’s game. He was ejected in his final game of last season against BYU for unsportsmanlike conduct, which carries a one-game suspension in his next game.
Since Houston didn’t play in a bowl game last season, the first-half suspension carries over to his LSU debut vs. Clemson. Reportedly, Clemson brought Haulcy’s fight to the attention of NCAA officials.
LSU’s depth at every position gives Kelly confidence that his team can handle Haulcy’s absence in the opening two quarters.
From LSU’s standpoint, the injection of transfer portal talent has allowed offensive coordinator Joe Sloan and defensive coordinator Blake Baker to dive deeper into their playbooks.
“You’re going to see a lot of versatility and (offensive) explosiveness,” Nussmeier said, “When you have the weapons that we do in the different body types and styles at receiver, running back, you’ll see a lot of different guys touch the football.”
Defensively, the addition of safeties Haulcy and Tamarcus Cooley (North Carolina State), South Florida defensive tackle Bernard Gooden, Virginia Tech cornerback Mansoor Delane, rush ends Patrick Payton of Florida State, Jack Pyburn of Florida, and Jimari Butler of Nebraska finally gives Baker a full array of defensive disruptors.
“Every coordinator has specific things that they want to have the luxury to do,” Baker said. “We upgraded from athleticism and experience standpoints.”
All the newbies may have given LSU a slight advantage in the scouting department.
“We’ve played only against a few of those guys (LSU’s transfer portal additions),” Swinney said. “They don’t have any offensive weaknesses. Defensively, they’ve got dudes on all three levels. It’s a really good, complete team.”
Clemson returns 17 starters, led by six players ranked by ESPN among the top 100 players in college football. But it has also lost three of its last four season-openers, including two straight defeats.
“Sometimes, I think you go into a first game and feel like you gotta do insane, crazy plays and make wild stuff happen,” Klubnik said. “At the end of the day, you just gotta do the routine plays, do them really well, and do them routinely. Be smart, be efficient, and just go rip it.”
GO FIGURE
1-3: Brian Kelly’s lifetime record vs. Clemson, all games played when Kelly coached Notre Dame.
3: Straight years LSU opens the season against a ranked team, making the Tigers the only FBS team with that streak.
18: Transfer portal signees for LSU with a combined 252 college starts.
19: Straight seasons for Clemson with five or more home wins, the longest streak in the FBS.
24: Times in the last 25 years LSU has opened the season ranked in the top 25.
1,623: Combined wins by LSU (815 since 1893. 12th all-time) and Clemson (808 since 1896, 13th all-time).
Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com