CLEMSON – Calling Clemson’s season-opening matchup this year a “hostile environment” would be a grave understatement.

The Tigers, armed with a new starting quarterback and over 10 other potential starters, will head to Baton Rouge, La., to start the new season against LSU in Tiger Stadium, a venue in which the SEC’s Tigers have won 88 percent of their games at night since the turn of the century.

Along with the usual hype that comes from having more than 102,000 purple-and-gold clad fans in attendance for a night game, LSU patrons will also be anticipating the debut of their new head coach, Lane Kiffin, who made headlines with his hire this winter. Additionally, the campus will host ESPN’s College Gameday the morning of the Clemson game, a program that routinely brings in four million viewers across the world.

With these factors, all college football eyes will be on the Tigers vs. Tigers collision. In reality, there is no way to simulate the type of hostility Clemson will be up against in a practice environment until the calendar hits Sept. 5.

So, in preparation, Clemson’s staff is focusing inward, instead of outward, ahead of the LSU game.

“I think it goes back to worrying about the Clemson Tigers and worrying about fall camp, worrying about summer,” new offensive coordinator Chad Morris said. “Then as we get into the course of the season, a lot of these guys have already been in those type of environments. Now, some of them will be getting their first start in an environment like that and that’s hard to practice because you can’t simulate that.”

While Morris, head coach Dabo Swinney and the ACC’s Tigers cannot control what exterior factors are brought into the spotlighted season-opener, they can control their own readiness. This means that ahead of the season, Clemson is focusing on solidifying its comfort in Morris’ new offense, as well as team chemistry.

They also have to name a starting quarterback, with fourth-year quarterback Christopher Vizzina and first-year quarterback Tait Reynolds duking it out over fall camp.

“You worry about just making sure you as a coach have prepared these young men with every answer possible,” Morris said. “That way, when they do get in those situations, if something comes up they feel comfortable to just say ‘Hey look coach, I can look at you and get to feel the what’s next mentality and hey what’s our next answer?’”

On the defensive side, Clemson will likely start at least three new players in the secondary, with safeties Corey Myrick and Jerome Carter III, as well as cornerback Elliott Washington II joining the squad this offseason.

While Myrick and Carter bring in years of experience, it has not been at the Power 4 level. On the opposite side, Washington played at Penn State, but only made one start in three seasons. 

To prepare this group for the pressure they will be up against in defending Kiffin’s pass-heavy offense, Clemson’s staff is set to make fall camp especially difficult.

“You create stress during practice,” defensive passing game coordinator Thomas Allen said. “My goal is to have the most stressful practice you can have. So by the time you get to game day, it’s smooth and it’s easy.

“You’ve been through the checks. You’ve been through the adjustments. That’s how we script getting in their face or behind them making checks, making them do extra when they’re not expected to. Like you just try to make them uncomfortable through camp. If we’re able to do that, then they’ll be ready to roll.”

At the end of the day, though, even with all of the headlines surrounding Clemson’s first game, it is just one of the 12 guaranteed matchups the Tigers have this season. Additionally, as a non-conference game, a win or loss does nothing for the Tigers’ ability to win the ACC.

With that in mind, linebacker Sammy Brown is not putting any additional stress on the early-season challenge.

“For the first game, it is a big game, and there’s a lot of headlines around it, but at the end of the day, that football game is going to be the exact same football game that you’re going to play in Week Seven,” he said. “For me there’s not going to be any different kind of preparation or anything like that, that will go into the game.

“I’m still going to come in on Monday and, you know, really watch tape for two or three hours. Throughout the week my preparation will be exactly the same.”

All the hype and preparation will come to a head in just over a month, when the Tigers kick off at 7:30 p.m., against LSU.