Thanks to hurricane Harvey, the BYU Cougars have to play a true road game when they take on the (12) LSU Tigers Saturday night at the Louisiana Super Dome in New Orleans. The game is scheduled to begin on Saturday, September 2nd at 9:30 p.m. EST. The match-up between the two universities will be telecast on the ESPN Network. As of Wednesday, the Tigers are a -16.5 point favorite and the total sits at 47.
The Cougars opened their season with a 20-6 win at home over FCS program Portland State on Saturday. The Tigers finished the 2016 season 8-4 and went 5-3 in the SEC. LSU closed out their campaign with a 29-9 win over Louisville in the Citrus Bowl. This will be the first time that the BYU Cougars and the LSU Tigers will meet on the gridiron.
BYU Cougars (1-0)
The Cougars struggled in their season opener as they failed to find a rhythm against Portland State. BYU was a 35 point favorite but failed to post enough points to even come close to covering. As the Rainmaker at getmoresports.com says, “You can’t cover 35 if you can’t score 35.” Overall, BYU held a 365-220 advantage in total yards while losing the first down battle 14-13 and the time of possession battle by almost a minute.
Starting quarterback Tanner Mangum was efficient, completing 16 of 27 passes for 194 yards and a touchdown pass. Last year in limited action, Mangum threw for almost 250 yards with three touchdowns and one interception. He will have a much stiffer test this time around against an SEC defense.
Running back Squally Canada led the Cougars rushing attack against Portland State. The shifty back carried the ball 16 times for just under 100 yards and a score. Teammate Kavika Fonua also pitched in another 59 yards, recording a gaudy 8.1 yards per carry average. Not bad.
Ten Cougar receivers saw action in their season opener. Tanner Mangum spread the ball around nicely. Wide out Matt Bushman led the Cougars with three catches for 56 yards. Neil Pau’u also caught a nice 28 yard touchdown strike to give BYU some breathing room. Again, much more production will need to come from the receiver position to keep a hungry LSU defense guessing.
The BYU defense should be fine heading into this game against LSU. Yes, they certainly miss the help of Kai Nacua. The outstanding play maker led the team with six interceptions last season and picked off 14 passes in three years. Even so, all three linebackers returned this season and the unit held FBS Portland State to 220 yards of total offense.
(12) LSU Tigers
The Tigers started the last year’s season 2-2 before winning six of their final eight games. Offensively, things will be a bit different for the Tigers this season now that star running back Leonard Fournette is playing for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Never fear, tail back Derrius Guice returns and could be a Heisman Trophy front-runner.
While splitting time with Leonard Fournette, Derrius Guise put up some very impressive numbers in 2016. The returning leading rusher recorded almost 1,400 yards rushing and scored a team-high 15 touchdowns. In fact, Guice reached the 250 yard mark in three different games last year. He will be the focal point for the Tiger’s offense coming into this match-up.
The Tigers were an average offensive team last season as they finished 68th in the nation in scoring offense with 28.3 points per game. The Tigers need to be more consistent offensively, especially in the passing game. They Bayou Boys were held to 14 points or less four times last season, losing all four of those contests.
Hopefully for LSU fans, quarterback Danny Etling improves after a full year under center. Last season, the signal-caller completed 160 of 269 for 2123 yards with 11 touchdowns and five picks. If Ed Orgeron wants to contend in the tough SEC West, Etling will have to improve upon those figures.
The receiving corps is going to need the most help. Wide out D.J. Chark is the only starter back in the fold. Last season, he caught 26 receptions for 466 yards and three trips to the end zone. Unfortunately, he is the only returning player that caught more than 10 balls a season ago.
LSU’s defense did some rebuilding in the off-season. Although important players have returned to hold down opposing offenses. A few of them are defensive lineman Buck Arden-Key and senior linebacker Donnie Alexander.
Before leaving the team for personal reasons, Arden-Key led the SEC with 1.1 sacks per game. Alexander is the Tiger’s second leading tackler. Both should provide plenty of stability for LSU on Saturday.
Prediction
BYU looked mediocre in their season opener against Portland State, and that was a home game. This one is going to be in the heart of the state of Louisiana against a powerhouse SEC program. The Tigers have plenty of experience in shutting down opposing teams so BYU has their work cut out for them.
Heading into this game, the Tigers do have a few holes to fill on what was an already weak offensive unit from a year ago. But, lets not forget that they do have Derrius Guice. Furthermore, LSU’s defense should be able to shut down the Cougars and pick up the victory to start of the year.
The Cougars defense won’t back down to anybody, and the Tigers are not the exception. Therefore, I don’t expect a lot of offense from LSU. Again, it all depends on how Danny Etling and his new wide receivers do after BYU has committed to stop the run.
That’s to many what if’s for me to play the over/under 46 in this one. Instead, I’m going to error on the side of caution and suggest buying this up to +17.5 and think dog. LSU wins in the Super Dome 27-13 over the Cougars.
Trends
The Tigers are 6-2 ATS in their last 8 games overall.
The Tigers are 0-5 ATS in their last 5 games in September.
The Under is 3-0-1 in the Tigers last 4 non-conference games.
The Under is 12-3-2 in the Tigers last 17 games overall.
The Cougars are 2-5 ATS in their last 7 neutral site games.
The Cougars are 0-6 ATS in their last 6 vs. SEC.
The Under is 8-0 in the Cougars last 8 non-conference games.
The Under is 8-1 in the Cougars last 9 games overall.
The getmoresports.com NCAA College Football Throwdown Podcast will be returning to the air on August 24th. We will be highlighting the first five games on August 26th of the 2017 NCAA College Football season. That will be the first of three installments leading into the first week of the season. We also we will be covering our expectations for the Heisman Trophy front runners as well as predictions for conference winners and team totals.
Our second NCAA College Football Throwdown is penciled in for August 29th. In that installment, we will be discussing all the games that will be played on August 31st and the 1st of September.
Our third segment will officially be airing on August 31st. In this edition of the NCAA College Football Throwdown, we will be covering all the relevant games for Sept 2nd, 3rd, and 4th.
