Are LSU and Lane Kiffin good enough to take the CFB Championship?

It's basically a new team, with a new coaching staff and over 60 new players through the transfer portal and commits.

Lane Kiffin generated offseason buzz with the dilemma of whether they would have professional players on their roster, then ultimately not signing them up for the game against the Tigers.

The question that remains is: is LSU that good, or is Clemson's downfall upon us?

While at Ole Miss, Kiffin had a 55-19 record, placing him third in the list of winningest head coaches in the program's history.

The Tigers are no strangers to winning, but their last and only appearance in the playoffs was when Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase led LSU to their 2019 title.

Sam Leavitt, Whit Weeks and LSU's dream team

After spending last season on-and-off the field with a foot injury, only to ultimately receive season-ending surgery at the end of October, Leavitt played his first game in 11 months on Saturday.

Leavitt added up 230 passing yards, 113 rushing yards, one passing touchdown, two rushing touchdowns and one interception against the Tigers.

The quarterback equalled the same amount of rushing yards as Dilin Jones, the rushing leader of the game.

A couple of weeks ago, Weeks was granted the No. 7 jersey, implicitly designating him as the defensive leader of the season.

With a total of four sacks by the LSU defense, it's clear that Kiffin did something right by retaining Blake Baker as the defensive coordinator for the Tigers.

Analysis: Is LSU actually that good?

Ana Gonzalez, DAZN NFL / CFB writer

Not to diminish LSU's performance from Saturday, because they did show they might be on another level, but it's not like Clemson was at their best either.

During the preseason, Swinney was asked who has stood out so far in camp, to which he answered: "We're just a bunch of nobodies." So, not a lot of hope from the start.

Clemson was not ranked in the preseason AP Top 25 Poll for the first time in 15 years, so really, what could we've expected from a matchup against the No. 11-ranked team?

We need to see the Tigers against a team that will "match" their level. Give me LSU against Ohio State, and we'll see why one team has two Heisman Trophy favorites.

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