It’s Game Week: What’s Going to Happen After it?
By: Will Vandervort August 31, 2026

It’s game week.

Clemson at LSU. The Battle for Death Valley, Part II.

Last year, led by then head coach Brian Kelly, LSU knocked off Clemson 17-10. What happened after that no one really saw coming.

Clemson’s loss to LSU carried over. The ACC’s Tigers nearly lost the next week to Troy, and then lost on a last-second field goal at Georgia Tech. They followed that up with a humiliating defeat at home to a Syracuse team that did not win another game the rest of the season.

The Bayou Bengals seemed okay at first.

After winning at Clemson’s Death Valley, they won the next three games to start the year 4-0. However, they suffered a stunning loss at rival Ole Miss, which started a downward spiral they could not get out of.

They lost three of the next four games after the Ole Miss loss. During that stretch, on Oct. 26, just a day after being embarrassed by Texas A&M at home, Kelly was relieved of his duties as head coach.

Both teams, who were preseason top 15 (Clemson was No. 4), were now battling just to get bowl eligible. Both did, but it was not pretty.

Clemson won its last four regular season games to qualify for the Pinstripe Bowl, while LSU won two of its last three regular season games to earn a bid to the Texas Bowl.

They both lost in their respected bowl games to finish the year 7-6, not exactly the vision either had when they met on that hot night in late August of 2025.

Rapid changes came in both programs.

LSU players celebrate following last year’s 17-10 win at Clemson, while Clemson wide receiver T.J. Moore looks on, on August 30, 2025 at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, S.C. A lot happened to both squads after last year’s game. What will happen this year? (Bart Boatwright/The Clemson Insider)

LSU used a lot of money to coax Lane Kiffin to leave Ole Miss and bring most of his coaching staff and players with him. The Bayou Bengals have 60 new players on their roster, including more than 40 from the transfer portal.

Now they are adding NFL players to the mix, but that is a different story for another day.

Dabo Swinney is still at Clemson, as he should be, but he did make several changes to his coaching staff, including at offensive coordinator where he fired Garrett Riley and brought back Chad Morris.

Clemson will have a new quarterback now that Cade Klubnik is throwing passes for the New York Jets in the NFL. The ACC Tigers are playing it fair. They are not bringing back any NFL players, but Swinney did go to the portal.

They did not sign 40 guys from the portal, but they did go get 12, including 10 on the defensive side of the football. Twelve portal acquisitions are a big deal at Clemson.

It might have been 13, but Ole Miss did some shady stuff if you remember, but I digress.

Defensive coordinator Tom Allen improved a secondary that was awful last year, bringing in guys such as Jerome Carter III and Corey Myrick at safety, and corners Elliot Washington II and Donovan Starr. They all bring in big-time credentials, and I am hearing are the players everyone expected them to be.

The quarterback situation at Clemson is still unsettled. Will Swinney name Chritopher Vizzina or Tate Reynolds the starter before Saturday night? No one knows.

We do know this. Reynolds has really come on the last couple of weeks in practice, while Vizzina struggled at times.

Will the freshman play in Baton Rouge and if so, how much? It’s very likely he will play, but I am not sure he will start.

Whatever happens, we will finally find out. It’s game week. Let’s see what happens, and I don’t mean just the result of the game.