An offseason of addressing — in portal recruiting, press conferences and preparation — a five-year skid in season openers is now all in the books.
Now 60 minutes between the sidelines and goal lines in Memorial Stadium in Clemson, S.C., will serve as the first substantial and diagnostic test of the effectiveness of LSU’s $18 million roster construction and nearly nine months of work.
The No. 9 Tigers open the season at No. 4 Clemson at 6:30 p.m. Saturday in high-profile, top-10 showdown for a national audience.
And while, particularly with the new 12-team College Football Playoff format, a loss wouldn’t doom either team’s season, the stakes feel particularly large for LSU after stumbling out of the gate the previous five years, investing heavily in the transfer portal this past winter and expressing confidence all 2025 that this year was primed to be different.
“We’ve been working on this since January,” coach Brian Kelly said. “After our Baylor win in the bowl game, we went to work on our roster, our process in developing this football team, so that when we get to these moments, it’s having a team that is confident, that plays the game the right way in a hostile environment — many would say composure, maturity, and they’ve got to play with great competitiveness. Each and every play is important. So when you’re putting together the DNA of a football team, it’s not just about talent acquisition, it’s making sure that you have the pieces necessary to compete in those moments, right? When there’s a turnover, when there’s a sudden change, when momentum’s not going your way, what’s the makeup of your team?
“And so, I like the makeup, but I want to have this conversation with you after the game that we competed the right way, that our composure was amazing and we played with great confidence. That’s the postgame remarks that we want. But that’s why we play the game.”
Kelly spoke often in his first three seasons in Baton Rouge about the importance of prioritizing high school recruiting over the transfer portal.
But on the heels of a 9-4 season in 2024, the lowest win total of his tenure, the Tigers stockpiled 18 transfer additions — all but one with Power-Four experience.
Kelly said the overall progression of the program and the key pieces returning warrant making that sort of a move to top off a roster with national championship aspirations.
“The reality of it is we had some work to do, and that work was building a foundational piece in this program that was built on consistency and high standards on a day-to-day basis,” he said. “So, that takes some time. We weren’t ready to bring in guys from the outside until our own program was in a really good space. And so it took us a few years, and I felt like this year we were in a place where we could invite people into our locker room, transfers if you will. So that’s the long and short of it.
“I’ve been doing it for over three decades, and putting together teams every year is a little bit of art and a little bit of science. If it was just ‘add water and stir,’ you don’t need me, you know? So I used my experience and my sense that when’s the right time to add people to the roster, and I felt like this year was the right time. I thought we had the underpinnings of a program that was in a good place, there was some consistency being built. We’re 19-2 at home over the past three years. There were some things to build off of with three bowl wins. No, that’s not the national championship. I get it. But behind Alabama and Georgia, we’ve won more SEC games than anybody else. So there were enough things there for me to say, ‘Alright, we’re moving in the right direction. Let’s go get some veteran players that when you go on the road against Clemson, they’ve done that.'”
Center Braelin Moore, a transfer from Virginia Tech, was referenced throughout this week as an epitome of the Tigers’ approach.
LSU sent four offensive linemen with three years of starting experience together to the NFL this spring, leaving a talented, but largely unproven room tasked with protecting Heisman-hopeful quarterback Garrett Nussmeier.
Kelly and company signed Moore and Northwestern transfer Josh Thompson, two of the top blockers in the portal, to help shore up their front.
“Certainly the intentions here to get to the press conference that I want is that we brought in some veteran players that in this environment at Clemson, he’s been through it,” the coach said. “He opened up at Clemson last year as the starting center at Virginia Tech, so he knows what it’s like to play against (defensive lineman Peter) Woods. He’s got that experience. So when you go on the road and you play in an environment like that, you want to bring in veteran guys that bring that composure and leadership and experience, right? Experience is the greatest teacher, so that means a lot, clearly, that he’ll have a great influence on the offensive line.”
Composure was a buzz word throughout the week for both Kelly and the player leaders chosen to meet with the media.
“The first thing is composure,” junior linebacker Whit Weeks said. “We’re going into a hostile environment that’s gonna be a lot of fun, and when you go play in front of huge crowds on the road, it takes composure in order to win the ball game.”
Added Nussmeier: “It’s a very special place, a very storied program, and obviously they have a really cool environment there. So I think, for one, just embraced that opportunity to go into an arena like that, a place like that, and trying to silence a crowd, I guess you could say, is kinda your mindset when you’re playing a big road game. And we’ve played in some stadiums that are unbelievable — I mean, Texas A&M, South Carolina last year, Florida. We’ve played in some big-time places, so it’s nothing new for us, but I would say that their place is one of those places.”
Kelly also feels this year’s roster is also his deepest thus far during his time at LSU and anticipates that attribute being a difference-maker in the team’s biggest games this season, starting at Clemson.
He referenced throughout fall camp to heavy rotations in nearly all position groups, including both lines — another consistent talking point this week.
“We’ve been at this and working at this and developing these things within our football team for the past nine months,” Kelly said. “Now let’s go play against a really good team on the road in what will be a very alive atmosphere, one that is difficult to duplicate, so you make sure you recruit the right guys. And this is a team we were very intentional about in terms of going out and getting mature players that can stand up to those moments. So, look, I could give you a litany of things about who’s ranked who and what they say about ’em — it’s about going out and playing. And all this preparation needs to lead into the three things that I just mentioned in our performance.”