By KACE KIESCHNICK, Tiger Rag Staff Reporter
After taking the field in a late night, lightning-delayed 8:40 p.m. kickoff, everything coach Lane Kiffin’s LSU football team touched turned to bolts of gold at Tiger Stadium Saturday night.
The No. 11 Tigers did not just live up to their frenzy of hype heading into the dramatic opener, they crushed nearly every expectation in a 51-10 dismantling of No. 23 Clemson before 102,321.
“What would’ve it been like if they let us use those two NFL players, too.” … Lane Kiffin after 51-10 win over No. 23 Clemson. https://t.co/s3EwcdeKbV
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) September 6, 2026
Nowhere was the Midas touch more prevalent than with defensive coordinator Blake Baker’s “Bayou Bandits” defense. LSU limited Clemson to just 145 yards and eight first downs all game, and 71 of those yards, as well as seven of the 10 points came on its final offensive drive.
After intercepting LSU quarterback Sam Leavitt’s second pass to set up a 49-yard field goal on its first possession, Clemson punted on 10 of its next 11 drives. Between the field goal on their opening drive and the touchdown on their final one, those Tigers did not run more than five plays in a series and did not cross the 50-yard line until there was 4:52 left in the game. The one drive that did not result in a punt ended with a 30-yard interception return for a touchdown by junior Tennessee transfer defensive end Jordan Ross.
On a 3rd-and-6 from the Clemson 25-yard line, Baker dialed up a linebacker blitz that gave senior Whit Weeks a free lane at quarterback Christopher Vizzina, who tried to quickly get the ball to receiver Bryant Wesco Jr. on a drag route underneath. But Ross dropped back into coverage, undercut the throw on the left hash and ran back the interception yards into the south end zone to extend the LSU lead to 17-3 in the first quarter. It was reminiscent of defensive end Marcus Spears dropping into coverage and returning an interception 17 yards for a touchdown early in the third quarter of LSU’s 21-14 national championship victory over Oklahoma on Jan. 4, 2004.
LSU’s edge rushers took advantage of the inside pressure provided by the Tigers tackles and linebackers in Baker’s plan.
“Once we kind of got it going, it was like, ‘Let’s keep the heat inside, but give them different looks,’ because that’s a hard situation for any quarterback to play in,” Kiffin said. “I’ve been on the other side.”
Ross (6-foot-5, 254 pounds) was regarded as the No. 1 edge rusher in the 2024 recruiting class by 247sports.com and on3.com, but he failed to make much of an impact during his two seasons at Tennessee. He played in 22 games with no starts and totaled just 26 tackles, five tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks.
On the very next defensive snap following his pick six, Ross screamed off the left edge for a would-be 4-yard sack that was later changed to a tackle for loss. His 11-yard sack on the first play of the second half would have given Ross more sacks with two in just over thirty minutes as a Tiger than in two seasons as a Volunteer. But for now, he will settle for a show-stopping interception and score. He finished his debut with a 93.5 Pro Football Focus grade, racking up four total tackles, two tackles for loss, two pressures, one hurry and one sack on just 27 defensive snaps.
“The game felt pretty slow to me, to be honest, because once you go through a practice, everything slows down,” Ross said.
The electric debut is just the beginning for an uber-talented edge rusher who has the size, speed and bend to play on Sundays. But the dominant night on defense and 41-point win were not enough for Ross to call the victory a statement performance, since it was not a shutout.
“I feel like we’re just getting started,” he said. “The defense is looking all right. We have some mistakes that we need to clean up, especially me. They did a pretty good job coaching us. I feel like we just got to execute more.”
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