​LSU Blowout of Clemson by the numbers: Kiffin’s Tigers dismantle opponent in every facet of game originally appeared on The Sporting News.
Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.In a relatively underwhelming slate of games for Week 1, Saturday night’s showdown between the No. 11 LSU Tigers and Clemson was expected to make up for the overall lackluster day of games. To amp up the anticipation, the game was delayed over two hours thanks to lightning and storms in the area that pushed kickoff to 9:40 p.m. ET. LSU entered as 10-point favorites but ended up winning by 41, winning by a final score of 51-10. If the final score wasn’t indication enough, LSU completely dominated Clemson in virtually every statistical facet of this game. Let’s take a deeper look at the numbers to show just how dominant LSU was. MORE:College football Week 1 overreactions: Is Dabo is done? Is Oregon a fraud?Blowout of Clemson by the numbersThis game started out feeling like Dabo Swinney and Clemson could make things interesting. A throw behind his receiver from LSU quarterback Sam Leavitt gave Clemson an early interception. Clemson was able to capitalize and score a field goal to take a 3-0 lead. But from there, LSU scored 51 points, and truly never let its foot off the gas. 8 — Number of LSU scoring drives and Clemson had first downsClemson had just eight first downs the entire night, with most of them coming late in the game. One of Clemson’s first downs came on a penalty. Swinney’s team finished with just four rushing first downs and three passing. Clemson’s three longest plays of the night came on passing plays of 22 and 25 yards, as well as an 11-yard rushing play late in the fourth Clemson.MORE:Lane Kiffin arrives for LSU coaching debut flanked by Livvy Dunne and Theo Von1-for-13 — Clemson’s third-down conversion rate against LSU defenseLSU, meanwhile, went 11-for-16. That’s a 68.8% third-down conversion attempt rate, compared to Clemson’s 7.7%. 644 — LSU total yards LSU’s offense, led by quarterback Sam Leavitt, put on a spectacular performance, as it finished with 51 total points and 644 yards of offense. Clemson, meanwhile, had 145 total yards of offense, and averaged just three yards per play vs. LSU’s 6.9. 41 and 40 — Clemson had more penalty yards (41) and rushing yards (40) A look at where Clemson finished on the ground: 26 rushing attempts40 net yardsTwo Clemson players finished with negative rushing yards in Bryant Westco Jr. and Tait Reynolds1.5 average yards per rush Most of that yardage was gained on Clemson’s late-touchdown drive inside the game’s last five minutes. With 10:41 left in the fourth quarter, Clemson had zero net rushing yards. By comparison, LSU finished with 309 yards on the ground. 1 — Number of red zone trips for Clemson Clemson finally got on the board Of course, this should come as no surprise given how abysmal Clemson’s offense was. But the longest drive for Swinney’s offense w