LSU vs USC: Beware of overreactions from the Sunday night opener

LSU is getting familiar with kicking off its season on Sunday. For a third straight year, the Tigers get the Sunday spotlight on Labor Day weekend.

It’s the only football game on TV. Viewer attention isn’t split. If you’re a college football fan, you’re probably watching this game.

When that spotlight comes, so does the media attention. With so much talk and narrative surrounding the game, Sunday night openers are ripe for overreaction. The winner will be considered a playoff contender while the loser faces “overrated” allegations.

In 2016, Texas opened its season on Sunday night against Brian Kelly’s Notre Dame. Texas won in what became the infamous “Texas is back game.”

A win over Notre Dame was a big deal for a struggling Texas program, especially with the entire nation watching. But that Notre Dame team turned out to be 4-8 and in hindsight, that Texas win wasn’t all that impressive. The Longhorns finished 5-7 and they were not back.

LSU and USC are two of the biggest names in the sport. Both fanbases expect these rosters to compete for a playoff spot, but there’s cause for anxiety with both programs too.

Both squads are attempting to rebuild a defense while replacing a Heisman winner at QB on the other side of the ball. That doesn’t come easy, no matter how talented your roster is.

But we know what the expectation is. Kelly and Lincoln Riley were both hired by their respective programs in 2021. The hires were significant poachings with LSU taking Kelly from Notre Dame and USC plucking Riley from Oklahoma.

Whatever narrative emerges from Sunday night is at risk of exaggeration. They’ll say the loser is on track for another year falling short of expectations while the winner has turned a corner.

A non-conference game to open the year doesn’t carry the same importance as a conference game in the middle of October, but due to the spotlight, this one feels huge.

The loser will remain alive for the playoff and have all their goals in front of them, but the narrative will be something different. On the flipside, the winner could go on to fumble its way through conference play.

The timing of this game makes it easy to jump to conclusions and convincing fans to be rational about a season-opening result is a lost cause, but be wary of falling into the Sunday night trap.

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