PALMER: LSU’s defense could spur special season

By Hunt Palmer

This was no fluke.

The defense LSU played Saturday to manhandle Clemson’s offense on nine of its 10 drives was a harbinger of the fall to come for Blake Baker’s unit. For the first time since 2019, LSU has a championship-level defense.

It took Brian Kelly a redo on the hiring front, a couple of signing classes thanks to millions of dollars and a season to assimilate, but it’s here.

And so is LSU.

This Clemson offense returned a Heisman-hopeful quarterback in his third year as the starter, an offensive line with 128 career starts at Clemson, three standout wide receivers and a 230 pound tailback light on experience but blessed with ability.

Those established parts mustered one drive.

LSU’s defensive front made Clemson tap out on the ground. Those 128 starts on the offensive line couldn’t move LSU an inch. Adam Randall, Clemson’s featured back, ran the ball five times for 2, 0, 7, 1 (touchdown) and 6. Second teamer David Eziomume took three carries. He totaled five yards.

Clemson ran for 12 yards in the second half and never trailed by two scores. They didn’t throw the ball 26 times to four rushes after halftime because they were behind. They did it because they couldn’t run the ball.

The passing game wasn’t exactly the model of efficiency. Cade Klubnik completed just 50 percent of his passes in the game, and with star receiver Antonio Williams sidelined, super sophomores Bryant Wesco Jr. and T.J. Moore caught just eight of 18 targets.

Clemson had to work for every single thing.

The result of all that work in the second half was zero points on six drives.

LSU rotated bodies up front and maintained fresh legs. They stuck to wide outs down the field and smothered drive after drive. Seventeen defenders made a tackle, and none of them made more than five.

Newcomers Patrick Payton and Mansoor Delane forced a Klubnik interception with quick pressure and quality coverage.

Veteran stalwarts Harold Perkins and Whit Weeks were all over the field. Perkins was credited with a tackle and half for loss and a pair of hurries, one of which iced the game. He looked fast, physical and in the proper role.

A.J. Haulcy returned from his first half suspension and immediately broke up a pass over the middle on a third down. Speaking of those third downs, Clemson converted 3-of-13 including zero over nine yards.

LSU bullied Clemson, and Clemson is one of the best offenses the Bayou Bengals will play this season.

Brian Kelly stood at the podium in Atlanta to open SEC Media Days and bluntly acknowledged LSU’s defensive shortcomings over the last two seasons.

“We have not played the kind of defense necessary to win a national championship,” he said.

His team did on Saturday night.

No titles are won in August, but the road can become significantly tougher with an early loss. LSU escaped that fate for the first time in six years not because of a 4,000-yard passing slinging it around. Not because of a wide receiver corps loaded with depth couldn’t be contained.

LSU won Saturday night because of its defense.

That was the DNA the golden age of the program was formed from. Sure, Matt Mauck set some passing records with Michael Clayton and Devery Henderson in 2003, but the title team was built on the back of Nick Saban’s defense of Chad Lavalais, Marcus Spears, Corey Webster and LaRon Landry.

LSU was an assembly line of early round defensive linemen and DBU products contending for and winning Thorpe Awards.

The 2019 squad epitomized the era of high-flying offenses, but defense is back “in” in college football. Stetson Bennett and JJ McCarthy piloting three straight national title teams helped drive that home. Both leaned on defenses hemorrhaging pros to hoist the hardware.

Blake Baker was brought back to LSU to cultivate that type of product, and the first test of 2025 was passed with exemplary marks.

The unit the media watched overwhelm LSU’s offense daily throughout August capped the month with a statement to the college football world.

Championship-level defense is back in Baton Rouge.