Clemson football is back home this weekend. The home opener in Death Valley.
Thank goodness.
Because Baton Rouge did not go particularly well.
Actually, let’s just call it what it was.
Clemson got its butt kicked.
Badly.
The Tigers walked into Tiger Stadium last Saturday night expecting a heavyweight fight and instead spent the evening getting introduced to the LSU offense one first down at a time. LSU walked away with a 51-10 win, the worst loss of Dabo Swinney’s Clemson career.
So naturally, the next thing Clemson had to deal with was its head coach going viral.
A few days after the LSU beatdown, Chapel Fowler of The State asked Swinney whether he regretted how he constructed the roster during the offseason.
Dabo did not particularly enjoy the question.
He called it a “gotcha” question, reminded everyone that Clemson has 11 games left, and basically challenged Chapel to ask him the same question if the Tigers somehow go 11-1.
The internet, predictably, had a wonderful time with it.
And now?
Georgia Southern is coming to town.
And apparently the Eagles watched Clemson lose 51-10 and thought, “Yeah. We can take those guys.”
Fair enough.
Georgia Southern defensive back Aaron Sears was asked about his team’s chances against Clemson, and his response was basically the verbal equivalent of grabbing a bag of popcorn and settling into a recliner.
“Oh, for sure,” Sears said. He added that after seeing some of what happened against LSU, he was “pretty happy” about Georgia Southern’s chances this week.
Well then.
Welcome to Clemson, Aaron.
The Eagles are coming off a 31-0 win over Charleston Southern, so they have every reason to feel good about themselves. They played well, pitched a shutout and now get a Clemson team coming off one of the ugliest nights of the Swinney era.
There is just one small problem.
This is still Clemson.
And while the Tigers have plenty to prove after what happened in Baton Rouge, they also have an opportunity Saturday night to make everyone forget about that game for at least a few hours.
Because nothing cures a bad week quite like having a team from the Sun Belt walk into Death Valley talking about how they are going to beat you.
Georgia Southern will arrive in Clemson with confidence.
Clemson will arrive with something considerably more useful.
A really, really bad taste in its mouth.
The Tigers and Eagles will meet Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. ET inside Death Valley.
And after getting embarrassed in Baton Rouge, going viral for all the wrong reasons and then listening to Georgia Southern explain why it thinks it can win the game, Clemson has a pretty simple assignment.
Go play football.
Here is everything we think we know about the Tigers’ second game of the season against the Georgia Southern Eagles, who apparently woke up this week and chose violence.
Georgia Southern Eagles
School Location: Statesboro, Georgia
Game Location: Clemson Memorial Stadium
Time: Saturday 9/12; 7:30 EST
2026 Record – 1-0; (0-0 Sun Belt Conference)
Wins Against: Charleston Southern (31-0)
Losses against: none
Head Coach
Clay Helton (5th Season at GSU; Career: 74-49 as a Head Coach)
Clay Helton is in his fifth season at Georgia Southern, where he has quietly done a pretty good job rebuilding his coaching reputation after getting run out of USC. Helton led the Eagles to a bowl game in each of his first four seasons, including a 7-6 record and Birmingham Bowl win over App State last year. He’s 27-25 at Georgia Southern and has picked up some impressive wins along the way, including Nebraska, James Madison and App State.
Here is a look at the projected offensive starters for Georgia Southern from the published depth chart, as well as their opening weekend statistics.
Offense
| Quarterback | Max Johnson (LSU / Texas A&M / North Carolina) | 7th Year | 7 | 28-39, 281 yds, 1 TD, 0 INT | |
| Running Back | David Mbadinga | Senior | 6 | 2 carries, 21 yds | |
| Wide Receiver X | Ashton Hollins (Illinois) | RS Senior | 2 | 8 rec, 106 yds, 1 TD | |
| Wide Receiver Z | Alex Taylor (North Carolina) | RS Sophomore | 5 | 2 rec, 34 yds | |
| Wide Receiver H | Antavious Murphy | Sophomore | 26 | ||
| Wide Receiver Y | Josh Dallas | RS Senior | 19 | 5 rec, 41 yds | |
| Tight End | River Helms (Western Kentucky) | Senior | 87 | 3 rec, 30 yds | |
| Left Tackle | Matthew Williams | Junior | 51 | ||
| Left Guard | Brandon Stoner | Sophomore | 76 | ||
| Center | Ty Furnish (Virginia) | Senior | 53 | ||
| Right Guard | Ethan Williams | Junior | 55 | ||
| Right Tackle | Colin Alexander | Sophomore | 63 |
Defense
Defensive Coordinator: Mike Mutz – (1st Season at Georgia Southern)
Mike Mutz returns to Statesboro for his second stint with Georgia Southern, this time taking over as defensive coordinator after three seasons running the defense at Stephen F. Austin. Mutz brings nearly 30 years of coaching experience and a reputation for aggressive, pressure-heavy defenses.
At SFA, Mutz’s 2025 defense led the FCS with 8.7 tackles for loss per game and ranked among the national leaders with 3.0 sacks per game. His defenses are built around a 3-4 foundation but regularly adjust to nickel looks, with an emphasis on creating pressure and forcing offenses into uncomfortable situations.
Georgia Southern struggled defensively in 2025, allowing 33.0 points per game, so Mutz has plenty of work to do. The early returns were encouraging, though, as the Eagles held Charleston Southern to 117 total yards, eight rushing yards and recorded six sacks in a 31-0 season-opening win.
Here is a look at the projected starters for the Eagles on defense along with stats from week 1.
| Defensive End | Anthony Bynum (Middle Tennessee) | Senior | 4 | 5 tackles, 2.0 TFL, 1.0 sack, 1 FF |
| Nose Tackle | Latrell Bullard | RS Senior | 57 | No stats |
| Defensive Tackle | Elijah Fears | Sophomore | 94 | No stats |
| Outside Linebacker | MJ Stroud | 5th Year | 18 | 2 tackles, 0.5 TFL, 0.5 sack |
| Inside Linebacker | Rashon Myles Jr. (Northern Illinois/Abilene Christian) | 5th Year | 14 | 6 tackles, 1.0 TFL, 1.0 sack, 1 QBH |
| Inside Linebacker | Brandon Tyson (Elon) | 5th Year | 1 | 2 tackles, 0.5 TFL, 0.5 sack |
| Cornerback | Noah Mangham (Ablilene Christian/Northern Colorado) | 5th Year | 7 | 0 tackles, 1 PBU |
| Safety | Jakyri Jones (GMC/Southeastern Louisiana) | Senior | 6 | 1 tackle |
| Safety | Aaron Sears (Stephen F. Austin) | 5th Year | 2 | 2 tackles, 1 PBU |
| Nickelback | Tracy Hill Jr. | 5th Year | 12 | 1 tackle |
| Cornerback | Chance Gamble (Kennesaw State) | 6th Year | 31 | 2 tackles, 2.0 TFL, 1.0 sack, 1 PBU |
Special Teams
Here is a list of the specialists for Georgia Southern along with statistics from week 1:
| Kicker | Tripp Bryant | Sophomore | 95 | 1-for-1 FG, 32 yards; 4-for-4 PAT |
| Punter | Alex Smith | Senior | 25 | 4 punts, 161 yards, 40.2 avg., 42 long, 1 touchback |
| Punt Returner | Peyton Plott | Sophomore | 24 | 1 punt return, -3 yards |
| Kick Returner | Jeremiah Ware | RS Freshman | 18 | No kick returns |
Final Thought
Saturday night, Clemson finally gets to play football at home.
After opening the season by walking into Baton Rouge and immediately volunteering for one of the more difficult assignments in college football, the Tigers get a much different challenge when Georgia Southern comes to Death Valley for a 7:30 kickoff.
And Clemson needs to look like Clemson.
The Tigers have a new offensive coordinator in Chad Morris, a 2nd year defensive coordinator in Tom Allen and plenty of new faces trying to figure out exactly what this team is going to be and we didn’t get a lot of answers in the drubbing in Louisiana.
Georgia Southern, meanwhile, just shut out Charleston Southern 31-0 and apparently decided six sacks was a fun way to start the season.
So no, this isn’t a game Clemson can sleepwalk through.
It’s also the kind of game where you want to see some things.
Let’s see what Chad Morris has cooked up with a full week to prepare and not great game tape to study.
Let’s see how Tom Allen’s defense looks in its second game as there were glimpses in week 1 in Baton Rouge.
Let’s see the new guys settle in.
Let’s see one of the quarterbacks and this offense find a rhythm.
Most importantly, let’s see Clemson play a football game in front of 80,000 people wearing orange.
It’s time to open the gates, turn the lights on and remind everybody that Clemson football is a lot more fun when the Tigers are the ones making the noise.
Let’s go.
Spot the ball!
Go Tigers!
