Why insider projects this program to win ‘wide open’ SEC after upset-filled Week 1

Week 1 of the college football season delivered multiple upsets this past weekend.

While it was not a particularly good opening weekend for the SEC, the LSU Tigers were a much different story, picking up a huge win over a No. 4 Clemson team, 17-10, on Saturday, its first Week 1 win since 2019.

Quarterback Garrett Nussmeier (28-of-38, 232 yards, one TD) was terrific, but it was the ferocious defense of the Tigers from Baton Rouge that made the biggest statement.

That was something ESPN college football insider Heather Dinich alluded to when discussing who can be the SEC champion this season during an appearance on Tuesday’s edition of “Get Up.”

“This is wide-open. We don’t know about Georgia. This Georgia team could be very good,” Dinich said. “I said weeks ago that I thought Auburn was gonna beat Alabama in the Iron Bowl. Is Auburn gonna surprise anybody? I mean, there are teams out there like Tennessee that looked great without (former QB and current UCLA QB) Nico Iamaleava. It’s very early, but yes, if I had to project the SEC champ today, it would be LSU because it is going to be the most complete team with that defense.”

Since Brian Kelly took over the program ahead of the 2022 season, LSU has had the offense to compete, but has lacked the defense to be a legitimate title contender.

On Saturday, that was not the case at all. After allowing 33.5 points per game during its four losses last season, LSU surrendered 10 points to Clemson and 261 yards against a team that returned most of its production from its ACC Championship season one year ago.

Not only did LSU hold Clemson QB Cade Klubnik to 50% completions, its defense gave up a total of 31 rush yards on 20 carries, all of which added up to it being one of the biggest winners of Week 1.

After rough outings from Klubnik and Texas QB Arch Manning, FanDuel now lists Nussmeier as the Heisman favorite (+800) and LSU — up to No. 3 in the latest Associated Press Top 25 poll — with the fifth-shortest odds (+1100) to win the national title.

It’s easy to overreact this early in the season, but LSU looked as talented as any team in Week 1 and got rid of some recent opening-week struggles along the way.