The LSU Tigers entered their season opener against Clemson as underdogs—and rightfully so. LSU had lost five straight season openers heading into Saturday night. Last season didn’t go the way they had hoped, and there has been growing chatter about head coach Brian Kelly potentially landing on the hot seat. Even SEC football analyst Paul Finebaum expressed doubt about LSU’s chances on the road.
This was the moment LSU had been waiting for over half a decade. The Tigers managed to escape Clemson with a win, ending a season-opening drought that had lasted far too long.
“The streak had gotten to LSU fans to the point where the fanbase was begging to schedule a cupcake opponent in Week 0 to kill the bad juju. Instead, the program opted to do it the hard way and it'll only make the Tigers win over 4th-ranked Clemson that much sweeter,” Saturday Blitz’s Nicholas Rome wrote.
LSU had to fight and claw their way through the game, including a controversial replay that took away a touchdown.
“A potential LSU touchdown pass was controversially overturned during their game against Clemson on Saturday night in Death Valley. In the primetime showdown between No. 9 LSU and No. 4 Clemson with the game tied 10-10, LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier appeared to complete a pass down the field to wide receiver Barion Brown on 2nd-and-11 in the third quarter. The play was initially ruled first-and-goal at the one-yard line, but went under review to see if Brown had actually gone in for a touchdown. Rather than declaring the play a touchdown, the pass was surprisingly called incomplete as Brown lost possession of the football at the end of the catch,” SI’s Eva Geitheim wrote.
In the fourth quarter, head coach Brian Kelly was unexpectedly run over by an official on the sideline during a passing play. Fortunately, he was unharmed and was helped up by his coaching staff.
LSU Head Coach Brian Kelly gets destroyed by the sideline ref pic.twitter.com/7BjIwPdRc6
— LandonTengwall (@LandonTengwall) August 31, 2025
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No flag was thrown on the play. Kelly was on the sidelines—not on the field in the middle of the action, as sometimes happens. Perhaps the collision gave him a jolt of energy, as LSU’s defense stepped up and shut Clemson down in the final drives of the fourth quarter. After all, it’s not every day that a coach gets bulldozed by an official mid-play.