BATON ROUGE, La. — Where does Clemson go from here?

After getting destroyed by No. 11 LSU 51-10, Dabo Swinney might need to go back to the drawing board for this season. Whatever buttons the head coach tried to push during the lead-up to the opener in Baton Rouge, it just didn’t work.

Throughout the offseason, and particularly fall camp, Swinney talked multiple times about ensuring his Tigers were tougher. Mentally and physically. Well, they didn’t look like it on Saturday night.

Clemson was outclassed in every way possible. An FCS team might have fared better than the Tigers did. I mean, right now, does anyone feel like the team they watched last night has a chance to match last season’s 7-6 record?

At least for one night, the moves Swinney made in the portal appeared to have made this team worse. Choosing not to add a quarterback looks like a massive mistake after one week. And the decision not to add any offensive linemen to help bridge the gap to some of the younger guys blew up in Swinney’s face.

All of those portal additions on the defensive line? Not very impactful. Clemson was extremely soft up the middle and couldn’t set the edge, which allowed LSU to run at will. Quarterback Sam Leavitt and running back Dilin Jones both went over the century mark without even playing into the fourth quarter.

Historically Bad

I am 52 years old and have been watching Clemson football for as long as I can remember. That was the worst performance I have seen from this program. To me, it was even worse than the 54-7 loss to Florida State in 2000.

The Tigers were absolutely whipped on the lines of scrimmage. And that might be understating it.

Clemson’s offensive line looked like turnstiles. There were times when guys came through untouched. Several times, an LSU defender was in the quarterback’s face as soon as he took the snap. No spot along that offensive line played very well. There were problems at every position up front.

Sure, the Tigers probably should have taken multiple linemen from the portal, but what was seen Saturday night was also a poorly coached group. At times, some of those guys looked like they had no idea what they were supposed to be doing. You just can’t let defenders have free rein like we saw last night.

It wasn’t any better along the defensive line. The Tigers were no match for an LSU offensive line that came in with some unknowns of their own. Clemson had just two tackles for loss and not the first sack.

Roster Building

Was there one player on the field for Clemson who could have started for LSU? I’m not sure there was. Not even Sammy Brown.

Over the summer, Graham Neff revealed that Clemson had in the neighborhood of $30 million to invest in this year’s roster. Let that sink in for a moment. That kind of money for THAT kind of performance?

Neff also said the money was there for Clemson to have gone out and added a quarterback from the portal, but Swinney decided against it, choosing to go all in on Chris Vizzina and freshman Tait Reynolds. After the opener, Swinney is going to come under heavy scrutiny for that, and rightfully so. Not that last night was the fault of either quarterback. I’m not saying they played well, but there were so many other issues.

Swinney also chose to stand pat with a fairly inexperienced offensive line. The fact that the staff hosted multiple portal targets after last season tells you there were concerns there. However, after missing on the first couple of targets, the staff decided to stick with what they had. Another questionable decision.

The staff did add along the interior of the defensive line, but none of those players had much of an impact last night. Not positive ones anyway.

What Now?

It’s hard to know where Clemson goes from here. Judging from Swinney’s reaction after his postgame presser, I’m not sure he even knows just yet. After he was done addressing the media, Swinney sat at a table, took off his hat, and placed his head firmly in his hands. The disappointment was obvious.

After the beating Clemson took last night, apathy has to be a concern. With Georgia Southern coming to town on Saturday, it’s fair to wonder how many people actually show up.

We are talking about a program that has been in a steady decline since Trevor Lawrence headed off to the NFL following the 2020 season. Sure, there was the playoff appearance in 2024, but even that team lost four games, including a blowout loss at Texas in the first round.

Fans have a right to be upset. Swinney talked on multiple occasions about the goal for this season being to get the program headed back in the right direction. Last night appeared to be a sign of a program spiraling. One on the brink of possibly passing the point of no return.