CLEMSON – Clemson’s 51-10 loss to LSU last Saturday marked several milestones, and very few were positive for the orange-and-white Tigers.

To start, the defeat marked the largest margin of defeat under head coach Dabo Swinney, who has been at Clemson’s helm for almost two decades. 

Additionally, it was just the second time in program history that the Tigers lost a season-opening game by 40 or more points, with the only other exception coming in a 45-0 shutout loss to North Carolina in 1996.

It was also by far the largest defeat at the hands of LSU, as three of the five matchups between the programs have been decided by a touchdown or less. The only other multiple-score loss, however, came in a National Championship meeting in 2020. 

However, with all of the negatives for the Tigers in last weekend’s blistering defeat, there was another first that could be considered much more of a positive–or at least one that points to the future instead of the past.

With just over a minute remaining in the first half against LSU, freshman quarterback Tait Reynolds made his first appearance in a college football game, after narrowly losing the starting job to Christopher Vizzina through fall camp.

While Reynolds did not necessarily rejuvenate a Clemson team that was already down 31-3, he did complete a pass for seven yards to start his first drive, and played throughout the entire third quarter, before Vizzina was brought back in in the fourth.

After the game, Reynolds met with media members for the first time in his young Clemson career, detailing his performance and the game.

“I felt good and confident, comfortable,” the rookie signal-caller said. “It’s just football. I was just out there working just like it was practice, you know, just always trying to get better. Today didn’t go our way, but that’s okay. We have the opportunity to get back.”

After being put into a game that was already all but decided, Reynolds completed four of his six passes for 22 yards across four drives. In those drives, Clemson picked up three of its eight total first downs in the game.

Reynolds, however, was also forced to scramble out of the pocket on many plays as LSU’s defense came prowling. Though he looked comfortable on the move, Reynolds was sacked three times for a loss of 18 yards.

“I think we always improve on just leading, being better,” Reynolds said. “We obviously didn’t get enough yards and score because of things that we need to do.

“Overall, it wasn’t enough,” he added. “We go back to work and try to get better offensively.”

Swinney mentioned earlier last week that after his success in fall camp and through the summer months, Reynolds would most likely get a chance to play against LSU or in other coming games. According to Reynolds, Swinney sent him in during the last drive of the second quarter to “just see what happens.”

“Tait, you know, kind of came in, it was good to be able to get him in there and get him to play and let him get hit a little bit,” Swinney said. “Wish it had been different circumstances. But, you know, both of those guys, we’ll evaluate them and we’ll keep moving forward.”

Thanks in part to four total sacks and 11 total tackles for loss from LSU’s defense, it was hard for either quarterback to get any offense moving. Vizzina, who led Clemson on its lone touchdown drive in the fourth quarter, completed 10 of his 16 passes for 83 yards with one interception and four rush yards. 

The two quarterbacks combined for just 105 passing yards to LSU’s 335, which marked the fewest passing yards in a Clemson game since a 16-7 win over South Carolina in 2022, when quarterback Cade Klubnik threw for 100 yards.

In that South Carolina game, however, Clemson rushed for 219 yards. On Saturday, the Tigers only finished with 40 rushing yards.

In the aftermath of the bayou blowout, Swinney says he is unsure of who will start at quarterback next week for Clemson as the Tigers look to avenge the loss against Georgia Southern. 

“We got to watch the tape and evaluate and we’ll go from there,” Swinney said.