WATCH: LSU football QBs during team’s first preseason practice
LSU football quarterbacks Garrett Nussmeier (13), Rickie Collins (10), A.J. Swann (15) and Colin Hurley (16) work during the first fall practice.
BATON ROUGE — The official kickoff to the 2025 college football season is more than three months away, but we now know when LSU football will kickoff its season opener at Clemson.
LSU and Clemson will open the season Saturday, Aug. 30, in prime time on ABC with kickoff set for 6:30 p.m. from Memorial Stadium.
With the assumption the highly anticipated matchup between LSU and Clemson is going to be top-10, top-15 matchup to kick off the season, there has been growing expectation the game would end up being a night on the first weekend of college football season.
The game will feature arguably two of the best quarterbacks in college in LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier and Clemson’s Cade Klubnik, both of whom have been uttered this offseason in way-too-early Heisman Trophy consideration this upcoming season.
Both started for their respective teams in 2024. Nussmeier led LSU to a 9-4 record and a win over Baylor in the Texas Bowl to close out the year. He threw for 4,052 yards with 29 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. Nussmeier averaged 311 yards per game passing.
Klubnik helped Clemson to the College Football Playoff where it lost 38-24 to Texas in the first round. Clemson was the last team in the field and drew a road game at Texas. In that game, Klubnik nearly mounted the comeback for Clemson, throwing for 336 yards and three scores, two of those coming in the second half as Clemson pulled within one score with 11:43 remaining.
Last season, the Clemson quarterback passed for 3,639 yards, 36 touchdowns with just six picks. Klubnik also rushed for 463 yards and seven scores.
The defenses for both teams will be heavily discussed heading into this matchup as well. Not only for how they possibly can limit the opposing quarterback but because both units will have expectations to be big parts of the team’s potential success.
Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com.
