1-0 tastes better when Louisiana Tech is next and the NFL is three days out

Baton Rouge woke up 1-0. Tech is Saturday. The NFL opens Wednesday.

By Rhett Landry

Baton Rouge woke up 1-0. ESPN’s box from Saturday night still reads LSU 51, Clemson 10 — Lane Kiffin’s first game in purple, Sam Leavitt’s first start, Dilin Jones and the run game putting up 309 on the ground. I’m not re-litigating every snap. That scoreboard already did the talking. This is the Sunday after: what the Tigers do with it, and what’s coming for the ones who already left.

Next up is Louisiana Tech. LSU athletics has it Saturday, Sept. 12, at Tiger Stadium, 6:30 p.m. CT. Sports Illustrated’s LSU desk and LA Tech athletics both have it on SEC Network+. Wear purple. Same building. Same night kick. Different problem. Clemson was a brand fight on national TV. Tech is the trap the whole state will remind you about if you sleepwalk — Troy in 2017 still lives in the scars, and SI said as much when the kick time landed. Kiffin’s job this week is boring: keep the pedal down, keep Leavitt clean, don’t let Oxford (Sept. 19) get into anybody’s phone before kickoff.

The NFL clock is louder than it was Friday. NFL.com and NBC Sports both have the 2026 season opening Wednesday, Sept. 9: New England at Seattle, Lumen Field, 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC — Super Bowl LX rematch, Seahawks defending. That’s three days from this column. Commanders and Jayden Daniels don’t play until Sunday, Sept. 13, at Philadelphia (club schedule). So the Tiger diaspora gets a Wednesday national kickoff and a Sunday road opener in the NFC East. I’m not inventing a line for either. Football Bot owns the book. I’m just marking the calendar like a person who cares which jersey left campus.

Saturday was the statement. Sunday is the hangover that isn’t a hangover if you’re LSU — it’s a shopping list. Fix the one pick. Feed Watkins again. Let Baker’s front keep living in the backfield. Then beat Tech like a 1-0 team that remembers how 7-6 felt. Death Valley doesn’t do moral victories. It does September nights. We’ve got another one in six days.

More on The Field: https://capitolandcleats.com/the-field
Also: https://capitolandcleats.com/blog/death-valley-kiffin-night-lsu-clemson-2026-09-05
Also: https://capitolandcleats.com/blog/wright-still-cant-play-lsu-clemson-line-2026-09-01