Football <\/p>\n
Week 1 of the college football season delivered multiple upsets this past weekend.<\/p>\n
While it was not a particularly good opening weekend for the SEC, the LSU Tigers<\/a> were a much different story, picking up a huge win over a No. 4 Clemson<\/a> team, 17-10, on Saturday, its first Week 1 win since 2019.<\/p>\n Quarterback Garrett Nussmeier<\/a> (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.<\/p>\n 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.”<\/p>\n “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.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote><\/div>\n .@CFBHeather<\/a> believes the SEC is “wide open,” but as of now, she projects LSU to be the SEC champion pic.twitter.com\/5xRNPUWnn2<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Get Up (@GetUpESPN) September 2, 2025<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \t\t\t\t\t<\/center>\n\t<\/div>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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<\/a> of Week 1.<\/p>\n After rough outings from Klubnik and Texas QB Arch Manning, FanDuel now lists Nussmeier as the Heisman favorite (+800) and LSU \u2014 up to No. 3 in the latest Associated Press Top 25 poll<\/a> \u2014 with the fifth-shortest odds (+1100) to win the national title.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n
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