Season openers have been a nightmare for LSU football over the last handful of years.
The Tigers led USC late in the fourth quarter in the opener in Las Vegas last season and were outscored 14-3 in the final 5:44 to lose, 27-20. LSU led Florida State at halftime in the 2023 opener in Orlando, only to manage one touchdown in the second half as the Seminoles ran away with it, 45-24. The year before, FSU blocked a potential game-tying PAT to break LSU's hearts at the Superdome in New Orleans for the 24-23 win in the 2022 opener.
Brian Kelly hasn't won a season opener as LSU's head coach since the 2022 season. And flipping that trend won't be any easier as LSU opens up the 2025 season at Clemson in prime time on national television Aug. 30 (6:30 p.m. CT, ABC) in what should be a marquee Week 1 matchup of top 10 teams.
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Arguably, the top two quarterbacks in college football will take the spotlight inside Memorial Stadium that Saturday night in LSU's Garrett Nussmeier and Clemson 's Cade Klubnik , both getting Heisman Trophy buzz this preseason.
Clemson's defense is expected to be one of the best in the country with returning T.J. Parker and Peter Woods at the edge positions as well as Avieon Terrell at cornerback.
To give the team its best chance against Clemson to buck LSU's trend in losing season openers, Kelly felt like the program needed the do things differently.
"We've made it a specific goal," Kelly told reporters at 2025 SEC Media Days Monday morning. "It's tangible for our guys. If you go through our weight room, we've got a Clemson paw print on the bags that we hit every day, it's on every monitor in our building to go 1-0.
"I thought it was important to have a tangible, specific goal for us to start the season."
For Kelly's players, "lollygagging" into the season can't be an option this year with a road trip to Clemson up first and the possibility of dropping a fourth straight opener.
"I want to play the best team every week because those are the fun games to play in – prime-time TV, 7:30, ABC – those are the games you live for," LSU junior linebacker Whit Weeks said Monday. "That's why I play football, to play in environments like that, play against teams like that. My motto is in order to be the best, you've got to beat the best.
"That's what you want. You want to go play a good team, you don't want to lollygag into the season; you want to get into a fistfight the first week."
Tigers wide receiver Chris Hilton Jr. expects a good game in the season opener, and that winning at Clemson in Week 1 has been "the main focus in our building."
That narrowed focus, Kelly said, was something that his team needed over the offseason. With the Clemson paw print in the face at all times while in the building the last few months, he hopes ingrained the importance of this year's opener.
"We needed to do some things differently this year, and that is embrace this opener. This is a big game," Kelly said. "It's not, 'let's warm up into the season.' We want to be ready for this football game. We're doing everything in our power to give our players the opportunity for that success.
"Our kids want that. They can taste it. (The Clemson paw prints are) a clock in front of them saying This is where we start this. Then it's about going 1-0 every week after that."
Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com .
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Clemson paw print: How LSU football is trying to win opener at Clemson
