Dabo Swinney responds to Brian Kelly calling Clemson 'Death Valley Junior'

Will the real Death Valley please stand up? That is the question surrounding Week 1 right now.

Ahead of what is being billed as the Battle of Death Valleys, the Aug. 30 season-opener between Clemson and LSU inside Clemson’s Memorial Stadium — colloquially known as “Death Valley” since the mid-1940s — has already sparked a war of words between both teams’ respective head coaches. All over a stadium name.

LSU head coach Brian Kelly appeared to spark the preseason back-and-forth. Kelly described Clemson’s home stadium as “Death Valley Junior” during a recent speaking engagement at the Baton Rouge Rotary Club earlier this week.

“You need those (Championship) traits when you’re on the road, when you’re at Death Valley Junior,” Kelly said. That was according to a report from Brian Holland of NBC 33 and FOX 44.

This came after Kelly, entering a pivotal fourth season in Baton Rouge, affirmed LSU’s Tiger Stadium was “THE Death Valley.” He did so during his own media appearances at the 2025 SEC Kickoff Media Days inside Atlanta’s Omni Hotel.

“We’ve got an incredible challenge, one we’re excited about,” Kelly said last week in Atlanta. “One that we’re looking forward to. We still think we are THE Death Valley. They can use the name too. We’re letting them borrow it.”

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney is never one to turn away from a war of words. He finally responded to Kelly’s comments during a Thursday appearance on ESPN2’s SportsCenter from the 2025 ACC Kickoff Media Days in Charlotte.

“First of all, both programs are for real. These are two great programs. We’ve met a couple of times over the years. Great respect for LSU. But I think if you just Google Coach (Lonnie) McMillan, who was the head coach at PC (Presbyterian), you can go and do that research on your own,” Swinney responded Thursday afternoon when SportsCenter anchor Brian Custer asked him about Kelly’s comments. “What matters is how we handle our business in Clemson, South Carolina on Aug. 30. So that’s our focus. But that stuff is historical facts, so I’ll let you do the research on that and you can report back. I’ll be tuned in for your report. You have a homework assignment.”

As Swinney indicated, the late former Presbyterian head coach Lonnie McMillan famously first described Clemson’s Memorial Stadium as “Death Valley” prior to his team’s game there in 1945, according to the Clemson team website. LSU’s Tiger Stadium is believed to have acquired the “Death Valley” moniker at some point in the 1950s, according to USA Today.

But while history might give Clemson the nod for the earliest “Death Valley” reference, the real moniker could be decided on the field over the next two seasons during the home-and-home series between Clemson and LSU, which begins Aug. 30. Clemson will travel to Baton Rouge and play LSU in the 2026 season-opener at Tiger Stadium on Sept. 5 of next year.

Suffice it to say, whoever wins the series will not only have bragging rights for years to come. They will also be able to definitively call their home stadium the REAL “Death Valley.”