Early LSU vs Clemson Prediction, Pick & Odds – College Football Week 1

• The Clemson Tigers are 4-point favorites over the LSU Tigers in College Football Week 1 action
• Both teams have struggled in recent years in their respective season openers
• Read below for LSU vs Clemson betting line, prediction and pick

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It’s a heavy right out of the gate for a pair of teams with the College Football Playoff on their respective mood boards, as the 9th-ranked LSU Tigers hit the road to square off with the 4th-seeded Clemson Tigers.

The college football odds have the home team as the early favorites, but as you’ll read below, neither team is exactly gangbusters in Week 1. After Saturday, one of them will already be on the brink of a season that’s cratered before even taking off.

Action gets underway Saturday at 7:30 pm ET from Memorial Stadium in Clemson, South Carolina, with ABC carrying the broadcast.

See below for the odds, preview and my early LSU vs Clemson betting prediction.

LSU vs Clemson Odds

LSU enters this one as 4-point underdogs, and +150 on the moneyline, with Clemson a solid -180 to win outright. The total is set at 57.5 points.

Odds as of August 25 at 11am ET. Be sure to check out the best DraftKings Sportsbook promo code before placing a bet on any Week 1 College Football matchup.

LSU vs Clemson Line Movement

There’s a ton of flux on this line, depending on where you look. You can find LSU as long as 4.5-point underdogs, but a look at other books has them a full point down at 3.5.

Part of that has to do with the fact that the Bayou Bengals have dropped five straight season openers — including the last three in the Brian Kelly era.

Should this line be closer? Other than the fact that Clemson gets to host in Death Valley, you could make the case that the line has been a little inflated, especially as Dabo Swinney’s crew has dropped three of their last four season openers, too.

Both LSU and Clemson feature quarterbacks that rank inside the Top 3 of the 2025 Heisman Trophy odds, and both have the ability to keep their team competitive, no matter the setting.

Fifth-year starter Garrett Nussmeier will be in Year 2 at the helm of LSU, and he’s already matched Joe Burrow as the only pivots to throw for 4,000+ yards, tossing for 4,052 yards and 29 TDs in 2024.

He’ll be squaring off with Cade Kubnik, will be in Year 4 for Clemson, and comes off career highs of 3,639 yards passing and 36 TD tosses.

LSU vs Clemson Early Prediction

• Pick: LSU +4 (-112 at DraftKings)

As we lead up to this Top 10 showdown, expect to hear a lot more about Clemson’s cohesiveness, especially as LSU has brought in 18 new players through the transfer portal, giving them the No. 1 Transfer Portal Class in America.

The Tigers lost four offensive linemen to the NFL this past offseason, and no matter how the new players fit in, they will be under siege from a Clemson front that’s considered among the best in the nation, part of a defense that returns nine starters from a year ago.

Clemson is coming off a year where it ranked fourth in scoring and points allowed in the ACC, while LSU was middle of the pack in the SEC, scoring 30.5 points per game, but were second last, allowing 24.3 points per contest.

If you plan to back Clemson, now is the time to wager, as there’s a possibility the line moves and gives a larger number for the home team to cover.

If you’re backing LSU, it’s best to wait until closer to kickoff, when their odds might lengthen by another point.

There’s also way more pressure for Kelly to deliver in the Bayou in year 4, setting this one up as perhaps LSU’s biggest game of the season. That alone has me thinking they’ll be uber-competitive on the road.