Texas or Georgia: Who’s the SEC’s team to beat in 2025?
USA TODAY’s Blake Toppmeyer and the Southwest Times Record’s Jackson Fuller examine the SEC’s top teams on Before The Snap.
College football season is less than a month away, but some pundits already have hit midseason form. In a recent segment on ESPN, the assembled bobbleheads mused that LSU is putting too much emphasis on beating Clemson in Week 1.
Excuse me, fellas, but what’s LSU’s alternative to focusing on the Clemson game? Should LSU look ahead to its Week 2 tussle with Louisiana Tech, or reserve some gas in the tank for a clash later in September with Southeastern Louisiana?
LSU has lost each of its past four season openers. That includes three Week 1 losses for Brian Kelly, the last of which caused Kelly to grow madder than a wet hen in his postgame news conference.
So, naturally, LSU made beating Clemson an offseason focus, complete with scattering Clemson logos and paw prints throughout the weight room to provide visual motivation.
Is that a bit hokey? Yes, it is.
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If LSU beats Clemson, though, I can already hear the commentators applauding Kelly for emphasizing this opener. If LSU loses, Kelly will be blamed for placing too much emphasis on one game.
I’ll admit to firing off a few spicy takes of my own this preseason. In a recent appearance on “The Paul Finebaum Show,” I described the Big Ten’s College Football Playoff proposal as “patently absurd.” (I stand by that opinion, by the way.)
Not every take must be set to boiling temperature, though.
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Publish date : 2025-08-04 09:30:00
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