During his radio show Monday night, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney was asked a text-in question about his team being a big underdog entering Saturday’s game at LSU.
The texter asked Swinney since “really nobody believes that this team can go to LSU and win, how do you go about establishing that winning attitude going there?”
“Well, we’re a bunch of nobodies, so I mean, I guess that nobody’s our cousin,” Swinney replied.
The outside noise and oddsmakers heavily favor No. 11 LSU, with Clemson a 10.5-point underdog heading into the season opener.
ESPN’s analytics give LSU roughly a 75% chance to win.
“But listen, this is football. That’s why you play the games,” Swinney added. “You don’t have to really say much to these guys. They don’t live in a cave. They know that nobody’s going to pick them, nobody’s going to give us a chance or any of that type of stuff. But that’s why you play the games.”
Saturday’s game at LSU’s Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, La., is slated for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff on ABC. It will mark the highly anticipated LSU head coaching debut for Lane Kiffin, whose team will host Swinney’s squad in a very hostile night-game environment.
ESPN’s College GameDay pregame show will be on site for the matchup. It will be Clemson’s first time opening a season in an SEC venue since 2016, when the Tigers began their eventual national championship campaign with a 19-13 win at Auburn.
“It’s a tough challenge, for sure,” Swinney said of opening the 2026 season at LSU. “This is a really good football team. Really, really talented, and we’ll have our hands full, especially in that environment, in an opener. You just have very, very little room for error, so you’ve got to play really crisp right out of the gate. But our team believes, so it’s really not about what other people believe. It’s about what our team believes. Our team certainly believes. There ain’t no doubt about it, and we’ll be excited to go play.”
Both Clemson and LSU finished 7-6 in 2025, though national expectations for Clemson are much lower entering 2026, as it is unranked in the preseason AP Top 25 Poll for the first time since 2011.
LSU leads the all-time series against Clemson 4-1, with Clemson’s lone win being a dramatic 25-24 victory in the 2012 Peach Bowl. LSU beat Clemson, 17-10, in last year’s season opener at Clemson’s Memorial Stadium.