ATLANTA – He has never done this before, never put so much emphasis on what amounts to less than 10 percent of a football season.
One game. One lousy game is now everything at LSU.
“Because now it’s a goal,” LSU coach Brian Kelly says. “A tangible, specific and difficult goal.”
And a flashpoint to what has become a critical season for Kelly.
When LSU travels to Clemson to begin the season, it’s more than a mega matchup between two blue bloods with national title hopes. More than a crossroads for Kelly’s buildout at LSU.
It’s a microcosm of the now great unknown of college football.
The Brian Kelly of old would never put so much emphasis on one game, much less sell out for the first game of the season. But the here and now and transitory nature of college football is different, and it demands drastic measures after consecutive losses in season openers to Florida State (twice) and Southern California.
So Kelly had Clemson signage placed all over the football facility at LSU. Logos and paw prints all over the weight room and heavy bags, strategically placed to leave no doubt.
He has preached all offseason that this is the most talented team he has had since arriving at LSU in 2022, seemingly willing his team to embrace the expectations. The message didn’t change during the first day of SEC Media Days.
He says this should be the best offense he has had at LSU (hello, Jayden Daniels), and now believes highly paid defensive coordinator Blake Baker has the personnel to build the unit into the nation’s elite.
There are no more excuses. In other words, the Clemson game is big. Really big — and Kelly doesn’t care who knows it, or how LSU has prepared for it.
It can be – and more than likely will be – a season-defining moment before the calendar flips to September.
“We can’t play like we have in the (previous) season openers,” said LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier. “Everyone knows it, and we’ve embraced it. There’s a sense of urgency on this team.”
Something had to change, had to shake a program that over-delivered in Year 1 under Kelly (beat Alabama, won the SEC West Division), but has struggled to take the next step since. Part of the problem is a lack of elite players, part is the unique circumstances of the ever-changing environment in college football.
And all of it is sandwiched around the dichotomy of building now vs. building for the future — in the middle of the storm of expectations.
The three coaches at LSU prior to Kelly – Nick Saban, Les Miles, Ed Orgeron – all won the national title by their third season. Kelly’s third season with nine wins was his worst in Baton Rouge.
So why change everything you’ve known as real and tangible in more than three decades of coaching, and bank an entire offseason on one game?
“Because this team is mature enough to handle it,” Kelly said.
Which is in direct contrast to Kelly’s previous three seasons in Baton Rouge. When Kelly arrived at LSU, the plan was to build through high school recruiting, and supplement with the transfer portal.
That ended quickly when he got a look at the roster, and realized the heavy lift ahead. It was more than talent, it was philosophy and preparation and intent — and all of it was woefully inconsistent.
LSU had the best player in college football in 2023 (Jayden Daniels), and an historically poor defense. LSU had one of the top five quarterbacks in college football in 2024 (Nussmeier), and a team that failed to consistently zero in on big games.
So Kelly loaded up on impact transfers from the portal, completely revamping the secondary on defense and adding elite pass rushers from FSU (Patrick Payton) and Florida (Jack Pyburn). More important, Kelly added impact players with intangibles off the field to help galvanize the locker room.
“The guys we added could’ve stayed where they were and still been drafted by the NFL,” Kelly said. “These guys came here to win a championship.”
That, everyone, is the statement of the season. Not a non-conference game that LSU could lose and still advance to the College Football Playoff.
This is about championship or bust, and the Clemson game is the first step.
“Every week is about going 1-0,” said LSU wideout Chris Hilton Jr. “Stack those 1-0’s together and see where it ends. The first one is Clemson.”
The flashpoint to a critical season.
Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.