Lee Corso predicts LSU to win it all in final College Gameday

In his final College Gameday, legendary sports analyst Lee Corso made his pick on who is going to win the national title, predicting the LSU Tigers to beat Penn State.

“LSU (has) the nation’s number one transfer portal (class) and a veteran quarterback,” Corso said on his final College GameDay. “… Now the Final Four, two of them LSU vs. Penn State for the national championship. Okay, a great battle, but the winner — LSU. LSU wins the national championship.”

How to Watch: The game will kickoff at 6:50 p.m. CT and will be televised on ABC

Broadcast Team: Chris Fowler (play-by-play), Kirk Herbstreit (analyst), Molly McGrath (sideline) and Holly Rowe (sideline) will be on the call.

Series History: LSU is 3-1 all-time against Clemson with the most recent meeting come in January 2020 when the Tigers capped off a 15-0 season with a 42-25 win over Dabo Swinney and Clemson in the CFP National Championship Game in New Orleans. All four prior meetings between the teams have come during the postseason.

History Made: No. 9 LSU vs. No. 4 Clemson marks the first time in program history LSU will be part of a Top 10 matchup in a true road game to open the season. A Top 10 LSU team has twice opened the season against another Top 10 opponent – 2011 No. 3 LSU def. No. 4 Oregon, 40-27, in Arlington, Texas; 2023 No. 5 LSU lost to No. 8 Florida State, 45-24, in Orlando.

Here are Week 1’s “Keys to the Game” from The Bengal Tiger’s Matthew Brune as LSU looks to start the season 1-0 for the first time since the 2019 National Championship season.

The turnover battle

Obviously, the team that has fewer turnovers has a better chance of winning the game, but here’s what makes this game unique. Clemson ended last year +16 in turnover margin, ranking 4th in the country, while LSU finished 2024 -3, well in the bottom half of the FBS. Then you get to the fact this is Week 1, where teams and players are at their most vulnerable in terms of the fundamentals. Ball security and the details are absolutely vital in a game where Clemson is already playing at home and has the edge in returning continuity.

For LSU’s offense, a lot of this falls on quarterback Garrett Nussmeier, who admittedly was too loose with the football, throwing 12 interceptions and fumbling four more times in 2024. Clemson will absolutely be clawing at the ball and looking to unsettle Nussmeier in the same way he was unsettled in multiple games last year from opposing defensive lines and even if it’s a negative play, it can not be a turnover.

The LSU defense forced just 14 turnovers last year, with only six interceptions, a number that needs to be significantly higher in 2025 for this team to reach its ceiling. The return of Harold Perkins, plus a revamped secondary should yield positive results, but in game one against Clemson, it would be massive for the road Tigers to swing momentum at some point with a turnover.

I’m not even saying LSU has to win the turnover battle to win the game, but the difference between these two teams last year was substantial and just playing this game to an even turnover margin would be a win for LSU.

Nussmeier has to be QB1

Garrett Nussmeier needs to be the best quarterback in this game. We’ve spent a lot of time talking about the offensive line (rightfully so), but it’s Nussmeier who has to make the throws and make the reads, set the protections, and make the calls at the line of scrimmage. He’s a fifth-year senior. He can not waiver in this game.

A season-opener on the road against a top five team that has two potential top 10 defensive linemen – it’s not going to be easy. Nothing about this is ideal, but in this sport, quarterbacks are the MVPs for a reason and LSU not only has the talent at the position, but experience now and he has to deliver. He needs to be better than Klubnik in this game for LSU to win.

There’s no one who has been more vocally optimistic about Nussmeier since his arrival on campus than me, but he has to take the losses from last year and use them in this game against Clemson. He has to be sharp right away, even when the odds are against him.

Overcoming the noise

Can LSU block out the noise of being underdogs? Can they mute the season-opener losing streak? What about the tangible noise of a rocking road environment? These are things that LSU just hasn’t done at a high level the past few years. LSU is 7-9 in games not in Tiger Stadium under Brian Kelly (not including bowl games) and overall just been far too inconsistent on the road. Things tend to snowball when LSU is not in Baton Rouge, as shown from last year’s collapses to Texas A&M and Florida.

What does it look like when Clemson lands a haymaker on Saturday? Can Kelly keep this team’s composure and drown out the noise of a raucous crowd? These are things I just don’t know right now because we haven’t seen this new-look LSU squad in action.

This would be a massive win for Kelly and this program, given all of the aforementioned reasons. It would be the biggest win of the Kelly era, surpassing Alabama because it’s on the road and because it firmly puts LSU in the national title picture for the first time since 2019. I know, it’s just the first game of the season, but we would see LSU immediately jump into the top two or three and give themselves a massive cushion in terms of making the playoffs. The buzz would be incredible. 

Is LSU ready? That’s the biggest key to the game, but it’s one we have no clue how to answer until the ball is kicked off.