CLEMSON — There are plenty of reasons why Clemson needs to beat LSU when the two Southern Powers get together and play on Sept. 5 in Baton Rouge, La.

One of those reasons is to take LSU’s fanbase down a level.

Let me start by saying that some LSU fans are respectable. They appreciate the game of college football, and they appreciate other schools’ traditions.

Then there is another set of LSU fans. These fans are obnoxious. They think LSU is the greatest thing since slice bread and they do not respect college football, its history or the traditions of other programs.

Granted, there is a part of every fanbase that has a section of fans like this. However, LSU seems to have more, at least that is how it came across after the Bayou Bengals came into Clemson and beat its Tigers in the first installment of “The Battle of Death Valleys.”

I do not blame these LSU fans entirely for their actions. They were fed a false narrative by ESPN and other national media outlets about them being college football’s true Death Valley.

Because of ESPN’s and the national media’s love affair with the SEC, Tiger Stadium has been propped up to be the most intimidating environment in college football. That is why, when LSU stole the moniker “Death Valley” from Clemson, the narrative it is college football’s version of Death Valley took off.

Yes, LSU stole it from Clemson, because Memorial Stadium in Clemson was nicknamed “Death Valley” decades before LSU ever started calling Tiger Stadium “Death Valley.”

Tiger Stadium was never supposed to be called “Death Valley” in the first place. One urban legend says it was called “Deaf Valley”, but no one could understand what the Cajuns were saying. They thought they were saying “Death Valley”, which is what it has been become known as.

Last year, in the first installment of the home-and-home series, LSU came to Clemson and rallied to beat Clemson, 17-10, in Clemson’s Death Valley.

LSU won the football game, and they and their fans own bragging rights right now. However, they still do not own the moniker, “Death Valley.” That still belongs to Clemson, and it always will.

Though ESPN does not play up Clemson as “Death Valley” nearly as much as it does LSU, including on its intro video to the College GameDay Show each Saturday, the fact is Clemson is college football’s “Death Valley.”

It is harder to win in Clemson’s Death Valley than it is LSU’s. The facts do not lie.

Clemson is 348-110-7 all-time at Memorial Stadium (.756 overall win percentage), which was nicknamed “Death Valley” in the mid-1940s. Legendary Presbyterian College head coach Lonnie McMillian named it such because his PC teams were always “killed” when they went into the Valley, at least that is what he told the media back in those days.

Clemson’s longest winning streak in the stadium is 40 games (2016-2022). The 40-game win streak ranks eighth all-time in the history of college football and is college football’s longest home winning streak since Miami’s record 58-game home winning streak ended in 1994.

Clemson’s 40-game home win streak is also an ACC record.

LSU is 444-156-18 at Tiger Stadium (.733 overall win percentage). LSU’s longest winning streak at Tiger Stadium was 22 games in a row, which happened from 2009-2012.

So, in the history of college football, Clemson not only has the game’s original Death Valley, but it is also the most intimidating Death Valley. The facts do not lie.

Also, Clemson’s Death Valley is located in a natural valley, hence why the Clemson Tigers run down a 110-foot hill to enter Memorial Stadium prior to kickoff.

Tiger Stadium is not located in a natural valley.

But most LSU fans, and South Carolina fans too, will tell you none of those facts matter. They go by the ESPN narrative, or ESPN’s lack of telling the whole story for that matter.

This is why Clemson needs to beat LSU at Tiger Stadium this year. They need to take them down a notch or two.

It’s almost like a father taking his kid and putting him over his knee and spanking him.

That’s right, LSU fans need a good old-fashion spanking, and Clemson needs their respect because right now, LSU fans are not respecting Clemson Football at all.