LSU football Coach Brian Kelly knows how big a win over Dabo Swinney and the Clemson Tigers is. Clemson Tigers would be in the 2025 season opener.
Set to enter his fourth season at LSU, Kelly appeared on ESPN's 'College GameDay Podcast' with hosts Rece Davis and Pete Thamel earlier this week and was asked about his team's Week 1 matchup Clemson Memorial Stadium .
LSU has dropped each of its three season openers under Kelly, including two to Florida State Last year, the Bayou Bengals fell to USC in Las Vegas. With quarterback Cade Klubnik leading one of the nation's best offenses into 2025, winning in a hostile environment won't be easy for any team, even one as talented as LSU.
Dating back to 2020, LSU has dropped five straight openers. Its last Week 1 win came in 2019, a season in which quarterback Joe Burrow led the Tigers on a 15-0 march to the national championship that culminated with a win over Clemson University in the title game at the Superdome in New Orleans.
Clemson has also struggled a bit in its recent season openers. The Tigers were overtaken by Georgia in a 34-3 Week 1 loss last year at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. A year earlier, Clemson fell in a 28-7 upset at Duke on a Monday night in Durham on Labor Day Weekend. The Tigers have dropped three of their past four season openers.
Here's everything Brian Kelly said on the 'College GameDay Podcast' this week about facing Clemson in Week 1 of the 2025 college football season.
Brian Kelly praises LSU's defense, says Tigers 'need' to beat Clemson
Let me put in the caveat: I did not schedule these games. I just want to be clear. But the fact of the matter is they are exciting openers and unfortunately, we have not done well in those openers and haven't had the outcomes that we wanted. Clemson will be a great challenge, but it's one that I think more than anything else, we have a football team that can go on the road, and that you have to do.
You have to have a defense that travels. We finally have got the roster in a position where I believe these are the kind of games that you want to go play, and you need to win them. I'm not going to make any other statements other than the fact that we need to win the opener because we're 0-3.
And not that this will be a deciding factor in whether you get into the playoffs or not -- it is a long haul -- but we need it as a program, for the fan support and people to be rallying around this team, which I believe is going to be an outstanding team.
Kelly says LSU has 'circled' Clemson game in Week 1
We've circled the game. I've never done that before in openers. It's all over our weight room, it's all over our workouts. We're wearing shirts. I mean, we're doing the kumbaya If we're playing Clemson, and we need to beat Clemson. So, is that too much pressure? No, I think we've got enough mature, veteran guys on this team. We had a clear conversation about why we were doing it, and they're all in on that.
Brian Kelly says Clemson is a top five team
"Look, Clemson is a top five team. And we think we have a legitimate roster that has been supported over time and in the transfer portal, so a good combination. Like I said, I've been in enough of these games. You go on the road, you better bring a defense and I think this is the first year where I believe, defensively, we have the pieces in place to go into a very difficult place to play and come out victorious."
Clemson vs. LSU will kick off at 7:30 p.m. ET on Aug. 30 at Clemson Memorial Stadium. The game will be televised on ABC.
You can watch the full video of Kelly's interview on the ESPN podcast below.
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This article originally appeared on Clemson Wire: Everything LSU football coach Brian Kelly said this week about facing Clemson in opener
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