One way or another, something has to give for Clemson football on Saturday night.
In sports terminology, a rubber match decides a series between competing teams with both have the same number of wins in head-to-head matchups. It could be argued, then, that the season opener between the two sets of Tigers is one of the best rubber matches seen in quite some time.
Fourth and 16 anyone?
Ah, yes. The infamous Chik-Fil-A bowl on New Year’s Eve 2012 when Dabo Swinney announced Clemson football to the rest of the country when the Orange-clad Tigers, behind Tajh Boyd, Nuk Hopkins, Andre Ellington, and of course Chandler Catanzaro, shocked the Bayou Bengals on Catanzaro’s 37-yard field goal as time expired.
That legendary kick was, as we all remember, set up by Boyd’s miraculous pass to Hopkins on 4th and 16 deep in Clemson’s own territory to keep the final drive alive. It remains a play that will live forever in Clemson football lore, spawning t-shirts and captivating tales from those who were there to see it. That night, it was the first time since 1957 that LSU had lost to an ACC opponent.
It also let the rest of the country know that Clemson had arrived. The Tigers would go on to slay another giant in Ohio State the following season in the Orange Bowl, and within five years had won the first of two national championships under Swinney.
Fast forward to January 2020.
Clemson football met LSU again, this time with far more on the line. The Clemson Tigers, fresh off an incredible come-from-behind win over the Buckeyes (again) in the play-off semifinals were looking to repeat as national champions and win their third title in five years. In their way was Joe Burrow and an LSU offense that many consider perhaps the greatest in the history of college football.
Clemson would lead the game deep into the second quarter before the LSU Tigers turned on the afterburners and roared away from the good guys in the second half to shatter further dreams of football immortality. That night in New Orleans would be the last time Clemson has played for a national championship to date.
Clemson vs. LSU: CFP National Championship | College Football Highlights
And, so, here we are in 2025.
The stage has been set for a while. The (real) Death Valley, Memorial Stadium, will play host to the penultimate college football rubber match. Who can lay proper claim to the Death Valley name? Which program will stake an early hold in supremacy in the young season? Which team can say they were the one who broke the tie?
Both teams are extremely talented. The Clemson Tigers return the most production of any team in the country. LSU has Garrett Nussmeier and a bevy of great receivers to fuel a high-octane offense that should be among the best Clemson will see all season.
In truth, neither team has played very well in season-openers for quite some time. Clemson football has not won its first game since 2022 when they throttled Georgia Tech and have lost three of their last four games coming out of the gate. LSU has fared even worse, not winning it’s opening game since that 2019 season.
Something has to give.
Will Clemson football finally get over the SEC hump? They lost all three games to Southeastern Conference opponents in 2024. Which team will shake their first game blues? And most importantly, which program will walk away with the ultimate rubber match bragging rights when the lights come on and the ball is spotted at 7:30 on Saturday night?
Hopefully, the Clemson Tigers.
