LSU’s Brian Kelly changed his stripes on ‘buying players’ — and the reloaded defense was worth it

CLEMSON, S.C. – There was Brian Kelly, sitting behind a wall of microphones, finally looking content after a season-opening win over No. 4 Clemson. 

There were no table-banging antics, no reason for the LSU coach to have to angrily wonder how yet another potential win had slipped through LSU’s fingers. 

No, Kelly and his LSU staff learned from their mistakes a year ago to the detriment of everyone left on their schedule. A year after saying LSU was “not in the market of buying players” in explaining why it didn’t land the quality defensive linemen it needed, the Tigers reloaded on defense and put together the best transfer portal class in the country. 

You could see the impact all over the game Saturday night in No. 9 LSU’s 17-10 win over No. 4 Clemson. Finally, the much discussed five-game losing streak in season openers was emphatically over.

“That’s why Coach Kelly brought all of us in here,” transfer defensive back Mansoor Delane said about ending the streak. “To go handle business and that’s what we’re here for. We’re just doing our job.”

Delane, by way of Virginia Tech, earned the game ball for his debut in an LSU uniform which included the game’s only interception and a team-high two pass deflections. Sources around LSU raved about Delane all offseason and the stabilizing force he brought to the defensive secondary, and you saw that play out in real time against Clemson. 

It’s amazing what having competent defensive backs like Delane can do for the rest of the defense. When defensive coordinators trust their guys to handle their business in man-to-man coverage, they can get more aggressive elsewhere in bringing pressure and exotic looks the way LSU did against Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik. The Tigers took away Clemson’s run game, only allowing a meager 32 yards, and put pressure on Klubnik to beat them with his arm. The highly-regarded Clemson QB put together a few good drives, but mostly struggled, especially in the second half, in finding ways to attack LSU’s new defense. 

Klubnik finished the game 19 of 38 for 230 passing yards and an interception. Clemson’s leading rusher, Adam Randall, a converted receiver trying his hand at lead back, had only 16 yards on five carries. Kelly said after the game that taking away Clemson’s run game made their offense more predictable and easier for defensive coordinator Blake Baker to dial up defensive calls. 

“Our No. 1 goal is to stop the run and No. 2 is to confuse, harass and hit the quarterback,” Baker said after the game. “I thought we executed both.”

Having talented defensive backs such as Delane, safeties A.J. Haulcy and Tamarcus Cooley and five-star freshman DJ Pickett on the back end freed up Harold Perkins to be the best version of himself on the field. It’s been a long journey for Perkins to get back to this moment, but on Saturday night inside Memorial Stadium, he finally looked like the game-wrecking force that took the SEC by storm his freshman year back in 2022. 

There was Perkins racing toward Klubnik on the game’s most consequential play, forcing the Clemson QB to throw a helpless pass far sooner than he wanted to that ended Clemson’s comeback chances. A year removed from a devastating season-ending injury, Perkins led the team with five tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss, and you can sense he’s only going to get better as he ramps back up in his new “STAR” role after playing inside linebacker the last two seasons. 

The most amazing thing about what happened Saturday night for LSU? That the first two-thirds of this story is not only all about the defense and not the offense, but that it’s all positive. For a defense that hasn’t ranked in the top 50 in rushing defense, pass defense, scoring defense or total defense the prior two seasons, that feels like a miracle. In reality, it was part of a purposeful plan to devote serious resources — Kelly says LSU spent around $18 million on this year’s roster — to lessen the pressure on quarterback Garrett Nussmeier and the offense to have to do everything. 

For his part, Nussmeier looked great and the better of the two highly-rated QBs inside Memorial Stadium. He was smart yet patient in taking what Clemson gave him, stood tall against a Tigers’ defensive line that could feature two top 10 picks and had a few beautiful passes over the course of the night. It helped, too, that LSU’s rebuilt offense line that featured two transfers got better as the game progressed. Nussmeier finished the game 28 of 38 for 230 yards and a touchdown. 

“We’ve had offenses here the few years that could move the football,” Kelly said. “We need to complement it with a defense that could stand the test. We go on the road against a top 5 team, and we better bring a defense.”

When it was all over, it felt like Mardi Gras in New Orleans inside Clemson’s stadium. The LSU fans in attendance, who let out loud LSU chants near the game’s finish, took advantage of Clemson’s tradition of letting its fans rush the field and danced and celebrated on the field as the band played. While the band didn’t give in to requests to play “Neck,” you could feel the joy and exuberance, the catharsis of a potentially season-defining road win, from everyone associated with LSU. Athletic director Scott Woodward looked on with a big smile on his face in a way that said moments like this are why I brought Brian Kelly to Baton Rouge.

Kelly has had his share of mistakes in his first three seasons at LSU and hasn’t quite met the lofty expectations fans have for the program. But the best coaches evolve and adapt, and the roster Kelly and his staff have put together for 2025 is a clear indicator he’s learned from his previous mistakes. He squandered a potent offense 2023 that included Jayden Daniels and Malik Nabers, and he wasn’t going to let that happen again. 

Instead, LSU has what looks like the country’s best quarterback and a defense that should invoke fear from opponents in a way it hasn’t in years. The 2025 season has just started, but if the version of LSU we saw at Clemson is the one we get all season, the Tigers will be a forced to be reckoned with in the SEC and beyond.

“Listen, these wins are big,” Kelly said. “There’s no doubt there’s a boomerang effect but they had confidence coming into this game. We just need to keep doing what we’re doing. We’ll go back at it Monday, and we need to go 1-0. That’s our mindset each and every week. I know it’s a cliche but cliches stick around because they’re true.”