Pregame Notes: What to know ahead of LSU vs Clemson

We’ve made it. LSU and Clemson kick off in just a few hours and the buzz around Baton Rouge is as high as it’s been in a while.

College Gameday is off and running, the Tigers are set to walk down Victory Hill at 4:51 p.m., with kickoff two hours later at 6:49 p.m. The buildup is palpable and you’re only guaranteed 12 of them per year.

Here are some pregame notes from the LSU program ahead of the Tigers’ season opener.

Pregame Notes

-LSU’s roster features 13 players who started at least one game in 2025 along with 46 transfer portal addition. Overall, LSU’s roster includes 44 players who were part of the 2025 team, 46 transfer portal additions and 21 high school signees.

-Lane Kiffin will be the first LSU coach to have his first game with the Tigers be played in Tiger Stadium since Nick Saban in 2000 (def. Western Carolina, 58-0).

-Lane Kiffin is 10-4 in season-openers in his 14-year coaching career. He went 5-1 at Ole Miss, 0-3 at Florida Atlanta, 4-0 at USC and 1-0 at Tennessee.

-Since the SEC era (1935), first-time LSU head coaches are 6-6-1 in their debut with the Tigers. That mark improves to 4-2-1 when the first game was played in Tiger Stadium.

-On Saturday, Kiffin will be on the home sidelines for the first time in his career, however he has coached in Tiger Stadium on five other occasions – twice as offensive coordinator at Alabama (2014 and 2016), and three times as the head coach at Ole Miss (2020, 2022, 2024). Kiffin won both games when he was with Alabama and dropped all three as the Ole Miss head coach.

-LSU will face a Top 25 team in a season-opener in Tiger Stadium for the first time since 1994 when the unranked Tigers fell to No. 15 Texas A&M, 18-13. It’s also the first Top 25 season-opening matchup in Death Valley since 1988 when No. 18 LSU knocked off No. 10 Texas A&M, 27-0.

-Saturday will mark the only the fourth time since 1962 LSU will open a season with both a new head coach and a starting quarterback when Lane Kiffin and Sam Leavitt make their debut for the Tigers. The other times it happened came in 1980 (Jerry Stovall and Alan Risher), 1986 (Mike Archer and Tommy Hodson), 2022 (Brian Kelly and Jayden Daniels).

-LSU’s roster features three players who earned AP preseason All-America recognition – TE Trey’Dez Green (first team), OT Jordan Seaton (second-team) and S Ty Benefield (third-team). Green holds the LSU record for TD receptions by a tight end with 11. Seaton comes to LSU after 22 starts at left tackle at Colorado, while Benefield started 33 games at Boise State.

-C Braelin Moore was awarded No. 18 for the Tigers becoming only the second offensive lineman (C Lloyd Cushenberry in 2019) in school history to be presented with the jersey since the tradition started in 2003. Moore will continue to wear No. 61 on gamedays and will have a No. 18 patch on his jersey.

-LB Whit Weeks and TE Trey’Dez Green will wear No. 7 for LSU this year. It’s only the second time since the tradition started in 2008 with Patrick Peterson that two players have been awarded the No. 7 jersey (OT Will Campbell and LB Harold Perkins in 2024).

-LSU enters the season ranked in the Top 25 for the 25rd time in the past 26 years – a streak that dates back to 2001. The only exception during that span came in 2022, a year that saw the Tigers captured the SEC Western Division title and finish the season ranked as high as No. 15 (Coaches).

Numbers to Know

1-First meeting between LSU and Clemson in Tiger Stadium.

7- Number awarded to LB Whit Weeks and TE Trey’Dez Green.

25- Number of times in 26 years LSU has opened a season ranked in the Top 25, a streak that dates back to the 2001 season.

What to Know about LSU-Clemson history

LSU and Clemson will meet for the sixth time – and the first-ever meeting in Tiger Stadium – when the teams square off on Saturday night in Death Valley. LSU leads the overall series, 4-1, which includes last year’s 17-10 win at Clemson. All other meetings came during the postseason with the first contest between the teams coming in the 1959 Sugar Bowl (LSU won 7-0). Prior to last year, LSU and Clemson last met in the CFP National Championship Game on Jan. 13, 2020 in New Orleans. LSU won that game, 42-25, to claim the school’s fourth national championship as the Tigers capped its perfect season with a 15-0 mark under then-head coach Ed Orgeron. LSU also beat Clemson, 10-7, in the 1996 Peach Bowl in Atlanta. Clemson’s only win over LSU came in the 2012 Peach Bowl when the Tigers hit a 37-yard field goal as time expired to win, 25-24.

This is only the 4th time in school history LSU will have a first-year coach, first-year QB

For only the fourth time since the 1960s, LSU will open a season with both a new coach and a new starting quarterback when the Tigers face Clemson on Saturday. Lane Kiffin will make his LSU head coaching debut, while Sam Leavitt will make his first appearance in the purple and gold. Kiffin, a transfer from Arizona State, comes to LSU with 20 career starts to his credit – all with the Sun Devils. The last time LSU had a first-year head coach and a first-year starting quarterback came in 2022 when Brian Kelly and Jayden Daniels debuted against Florida State. Here’s how the previous three did in their debuts:

1980 Jerry Stovall-Alan Risher–at Florida State L, 16-0

1986 Mike Archer-Tommy Hodson– Texas A&M W, 35-17

2022 Brian Kelly-Jayden Daniels– vs. Florida State L, 24-23

Some offensive trends under Lane Kiffin, Charlie Weis Jr. 

Kiffin, Weis and The Green Dot

Since the Green Dot (coach-player communications) became part of college football two seasons ago, offenses led by Lane Kiffin and Charlie Weis have scored 1,056 points and accumulated 14,190 total yards (92,61 passing, 4,929 rushing) over that span. The 1,056 points rank second nationally to only Indiana (1,203 points), while the 14,190 total yards are the most nationally during that two-year stretch. Since implementing the green dot for the 2024, Kiffin’s teams are averaging 37.7 points and 506.8 total yards per game (330.8 passing; 176.0 rushing).

Kiffin’s Team Has Most Rushing Yards In SEC Over Last 6 Years

Lane Kiffin comes to LSU having produced the most rushing yards in the SEC since 2020 with 15,490. Under Kiffin, the Rebels led the SEC in rushing in 2020 (210.6 yards per game) and 2022 (256.5) and finished No. 2 in the league in 2021 with 217.6 yards per game. Kiffin coached Ole Miss teams never finished lower than No. 6 in the SEC in rushing during his six seasons in Oxford. The Rebels were No. 5 in the league in rushing in 2023 (176.3) and 2024 (175.7) and No. 6 a year ago with a 176.3 average.

(Press Release from LSU Athletics)