I just realized something. For as much as my interest in LSU football wanes these days, I really want to win the opener against Clemson this year. Not because of anything specifically about Clemson, but because we haven't won an opener in 5 years. It's such a dud to try to muster up excitement for a sport that's rapidly losing me, and then tune in for the opener and lay eggs in embarrassing fashion like we have the past 5 seasons.
At this point I'd trade the marquee matchup for a rent-a-win nobody cares about. We used to be automatic in ooc games like no one else, but it's just been shameful this decade. After losing a game to Texas in 2002, LSU went on a nation-leading non-conference tear of regular season games until the Wisconsin opening loss of 2016, and most bowl games too (there were three bowl losses to PSU 2009, Clemson 2012, and ND 2014). We played some heavy-hitters, and not only did we win, a lot of them were blowouts.
I'm not necessarily asking for that again, but a Day 1 W after a string of derps doesn't seem like too much to ask. Unfortunately, I don't think it's coming against Clemson. LSU stands to be a pretty good team this year if all the pieces gel, but I don't expect a team built like this to be humming on opening day.
