Clemson's 2025 season opener is just two months away and the Tigers' Week 1 opponent is already feeling the pressure.
Brian Kelly has been outmatched in every season opener as head coach of the Tigers, but the program has lost five straight Week 1 showdowns. Garrett Nussmeier is feeling the pressure to change that.
With a road game against Clemson looming, that losing streak is weighing heavily on his mind.
NEW: Garrett Nussmeier tells @PeteNakos_ LSU is conscious of losing 5 straight openers:
— On3 (@On3sports) June 27, 2025
“We’re not hiding from it. ...we accept that it’s a problem. We know that we have to find a way to fix it.”
LSU at Clemson Week 1🍿
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“We’re not hiding from it," Nussmeier said. "We accept that it’s a problem. We know that we have to find a way to fix it.”
Nussmeier isn't wrong.
Losing five straight season openers as a perennial contender sets LSU behind to start every year which is detrimental to playoff hopes. Now that the field is expanded to 12 teams, however, a season-opening loss won't completely crush the Tigers' playoff hopes before they have a chance to get off the ground, and Nussmeier has to prepare for the possibility of a sixth straight season-opening loss.
LSU has a lot working against them in the season opener as the Tigers will face a top-five team in the country with the most returning production in the Power Four in one of the toughest venues in college football with the No. 1 returning quarterback.
It's going to take a herculean effort to end the streak.
Nussmeier has the talent and LSU has the pieces to pull off the upset of Clemson in Week 1, but that losing streak looms large and Kelly and Co. didn't do themselves any favors with the scheduling.
If LSU loses to Clemson in Week 1, it'll look for revenge in 2026 as the two teams will meet in Baton Rouge in early September.