LSU Football Opens As 17 Point Favorites Against Mississippi State in Season Opener
The question marks around the LSU roster were the offseason topics of discussion but that hasn't wavered Vegas' opening week odds against Mississippi State. According to BetOnline.ag, the Tigers will open as 17-point favorites when the visiting Bulldogs come to town on Saturday for week one in the SEC.
It goes hand in hand with what other sports books have predicted for the game, with most odds falling in that 17-19.5 range.
Here are some other SEC matchup betting odds:
Kentucky vs Auburn (-7)
Georgia (-26.5) vs Arkansas
Alabama (-27.5) vs Missouri
Tennessee (-3) vs South Carolina
Vanderbilt vs Texas A&M (-29.5)
While this week's projections certainly favor the purple and gold, the national buzz around the team has certainly tempered since the loss of receiver Ja'Marr Chase and defensive tackle Tyler Shelvin.
Despite the obvious loss of talent to the NFL draft and in the weeks leading up to the season opener, coach Ed Orgeron said the Tigers are focused on the task at hand, not what others perceive of this team.
“I think it’s going to be a natural tendency for them to predict us not having the success that we would have if we would have a lot of guys coming back,” Orgeron said during his weekly Zoom conference two weeks ago. “But that doesn’t bother us. I think we have a great team and we’re going to use that as an advantage. We’ve been picked high; we’ve been picked low and none of them usually pan out.
“This time last year nobody picked us to go 15-0 and had a great season. We’re going to have to block out that. I think those guys have legitimate reasons to say they lost this, they lost that, (they have a) new quarterback. I can understand where they may pick us not to have the success that we think we’re going to have.”
LSU figures to be among the favorites in the SEC West this season, along with Alabama, Auburn and Texas A&M. It's set to be an unprecedented season in the conference with a grueling 10-game SEC slate.
The Tigers early season schedule allows them to ease into conference play before a tough week four matchup against Florida.
