Analyst Argues LSU Football Should Be Ranked No. 1 Over Ohio State After Clemson Win

The LSU Tigers are 1-0 for the first time since the 2019 season after defeating No. 4 Clemson at Memorial Stadium on Saturday night.

After marching into Clemson (S.C.) in Week 1 and earning a victory, the Bayou Bengals snapped the program's five-game losing skid in season-opening contests.

Brian Kelly and Co. had circled Week 1 across the offseason with all eyes on the Top-10 duel in South Carolina.

Now, LSU is 1-0 with social media buzzing as national analysts begin logging their predictions for the remainder of the season.

On Monday morning, ESPN's Heather Dinich predicted the Tigers to be ranked the No. 1 team in America over the Ohio State Buckeyes.

No. 3 Ohio State is coming off of a dominant Week 1 win over Arch Manning and the No. 1 ranked Texas Longhorns.

LSU Tigers Football: Week 1. — Courtesy of LSU Tigers Football.

“LSU should be the No. 1 team in the country,” Dinich said. “They went on the road. Ohio State won at home, albeit against a good team, but they (LSU) beat a good team soundly.

"They made them one-dimensional, and they exposed them. They limited them to 31 rushing yards.”

LSU's Week 1 victory was spearheaded by redshirt-senior quarterback Garrett Nussmeier along with an impressive defensive showing from coordinator Blake Baker's unit.

.@CFBHeather believes LSU will be No. 1 in the country after their win over Clemson 👀 pic.twitter.com/NHsXEOxOgf
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) September 1, 2025

The goal heading into the season opener was finding complementary football with Kelly and Co. doing just that at Memorial Stadium.

“We’ve said from day one that we’ve had offenses here the last few years that could move the football,” Kelly said. “We needed to complement it with a defense that could stand the test.

"You go on the road and play a top-five team, you better bring your defense. We knew that we were going to be that defense that needed to step up and step up big.”

Brian Kelly and the LSU Tigers Football program. — Courtesy of LSU Tigers Football.

National analysts are buying into what the Bayou Bengals are piecing together with ESPN's Paul Finebaum chiming in on LSU after the win.

Finebaum Weighs In:

"I agree with everything you said,” Paul Finebaum said. “Except I was led to believe by people who had seen Clemson practice, that they were something that they were not. They’re a good team, but you don’t have to be elite to win that league, where you do in the SEC.

"And Brian Kelly called his shot. You wondered, was he putting too much pressure? He knew he had to do something different, and he did.”

LSU wasn't perfect on Saturday night at Memorial Stadium, but did the little things down the stretch with Finebaum alluding to the program's physicality in crunch time paving the way.

LSU Tigers Football: Clemson. — Courtesy of LSU Tigers Football.

“You’re right, it was a sloppy win because if felt like some of the other openers — and some of it wasn’t their fault. I mean, touchdowns were taken off the board. Mistakes were made. Field goals were missed,” Finebaum said.

“But, in the end, they were so much more physical on the line of scrimmage that we thought was going to be Clemson’s calling card. All of a sudden, that game against Florida in two weeks doesn’t seem like a referendum anymore on Brian Kelly.”

LSU will return to action on Saturday night at Tiger Stadium in the program's home opener against the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs.

More LSU News:

LSU Football Season Outlook: Predicting Brian Kelly and the Tigers Record in 2025

Nation's No. 1 Wide Receiver, Elite Five-Star LSU Football Commit on 'Flip Watch'

LSU Football Depth Chart Predictions: Projecting the Starters Against Clemson Tigers

Join the Community:

Follow Zack Nagy on Twitter: @znagy20 and LSU Tigers On SI: @LSUTigersSI for all coverage surrounding the LSU Tigers.