LSU enters the Week 1 game against Clemson as a double-digit favorite, while Dabo Swinney’s team is playing the role of the underdog.

Few, if any, are picking Swinney’s Tigers to go on the road to Baton Rouge and beat Lane Kiffin’s Tigers in what will be a very hostile environment Saturday night. However, ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith isn’t ruling out the possibility of Clemson pulling off a Week 1 shocker.

On an episode of ESPN’s First Take, Smith put No. 11 LSU on “upset alert” against Clemson, which isn’t ranked in the preseason AP Top 25 Poll for the first time since 2011.

Smith joined co-panelist Evan Cohen in putting the Bayou Bengals on upset alert, with Smith pointing to the “urgency of the moment” for Clemson.

Smith noted that Clemson has lost 14 games during the past three seasons, so Smith believes Swinney and his team are hungry for a redemptive win and will be ready.

“I can’t wait to talk to Dabo Swinney because I love that man,” Smith said. “I’ve known him for years. And he’s lost 14 games in the last three years. Let’s think about that. He’s lost 14 games in the last three years. He can complain about NIL and all of that stuff all you want to. But this is the game that you’re in and you’ve got to adapt. And I’m not saying that he hasn’t made effort to adapt. But clearly he’s an old-school kind of guy that longs for the days of old, where you don’t have to deal with the nonsense that he’s had to deal with. You know, with the culture of today’s game, name, image, likeness, and all that’s come with it. Players having agents, players having the right to transfer. So in other words, you were comfortable when your side of the fence had all the power. And now that it’s called for an adjustment, he’s having a hard time to adjust. …

“And I think that because of the urgency of the moment, with Clemson having lost 14 games over the last three years, they better be ready against LSU. I think he knows it, I think they know it, and I think that’s what could have Lane Kiffin and LSU on upset alert.”

As for Swinney specifically, Smith has respect for Clemson’s longtime head coach and what he’s accomplished, but Smith explained what he takes issue with.

“Here’s what bothers me about that with Dabo Swinney, and I’ll tell him to his face when I see him,” Smith said. “He’s such a good man. He’s a damn good coach. He’s a champion. He’s a two-time national champion. He’s a damn good coach, OK, and a great guy. He really, really is, with a personality that really can ingratiate itself with the younger generation, if he was committed to it even more. And I’m not saying he doesn’t relate to his players, because I’m sure he does. But I’m talking about if he really embraced it.

“I mean, Dabo Swinney can talk to any kid in America and get them thinking twice about neglecting to come to Clemson. Because they will come for him because he’s that kind of affable kind of personality and he really knows what he’s doing. But you’ve got to want to do it. If they see that you’re not really into it, they’ll pick up on that right away, and that is the problem with Dabo Swinney.”

Clemson is a 10.5-point underdog entering Saturday’s game (7:30 p.m., ABC), which will mark Kiffin’s LSU head coaching debut.

You can check out the segment from First Take below: