Lsu Byu Line

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On Saturday, September 2nd, the NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, will play host to an intriguing matchup between the BYU Cougars and the SEC powerhouse LSU Tigers. Kickoff for this neutral site game is at 9:30 P.M ET. Vegas Betting Line and College Football Game Preview: BYU vs. The BYU Cougars will enter this contest after playing one game. BYU offensive line coach Eric Mateos to join Jeff Grimes at Baylor Mateos came to Provo in 2019 and has previously coached alongside Grimes at LSU and BYU New BYU offensive line coach Eric Mateos. But while LSU’s coaching staff has paid special attention to BYU’s offensive line, several Tigers players felt they could impose their quickness against BYU’s offense in watching last week. As a unit, the Cougar offensive line has 89 combined starts. BYU rushed for 171 rushing yards against the Vikings. Last season, BYU was 8-1 when rushing for 150 yards or more and 1-3 when under the mark. A win over the Tigers would BYU its first win over a ranked team since a 35-24 win over No. 20 Boise State in Provo on Sept.

Loyal Cougars Editor Brandon Jones previews Saturday’s game against #12/13 LSU with the LC 9-line Prediction: nine specific predictions presented as over-under betting lines.

Game Capsule

BYU Cougars (1-0) vs. LSU Tigers (0-0)

Mercedes-Benz Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana

Kickoff Time: Saturday, September 2, 2017, 8:30pm CST

TV: ESPN (Bob Wischusen/Brock Huard/Allison Williams), BYUtv Countdown to Kickoff (Dave McCann/Blaine Fowler) 6:30pm MST

Radio: Nuskin Cougar Sports Network (Greg Wrubell/Marc Lyons): Sirius XM 143, KSL 1160 AM and 102.7 FM, and online at BYUcougars.com

BYU Game Notes, LSU Game Notes

In my Week Zero predictions, I went 6-3, which I guess isn’t all that good when you consider that I chose the categories and set the lines. We’ll see what Week One has in store as our BYU Cougars travel to New Orleans to take on a Top 15 team in the LSU Tigers. But just how much stock should we put into preseason rankings? Here are nine Vegas-style lines to watch for:

1. BYU Sacks – LINE: 2.5 – BYU had three sacks against Portland State and will match up well against an LSU offensive line that returns just one starter from 2016. Will the Cougars be able to duplicate that number in the second game of the season? Theoretically, Coach Tuiaki will be vastly less vanilla in his playcalling this week and the Cougars will bring more exotic pressures and do so at a higher frequency. OVER
2. BYU Offensive 3rd Down Conversion Rate – LINE: 40% – The Cougar offense converted on just 4-of-13 (30.8%) of its 3rd Down attempts last week against Portland State. In 2016, BYU had an 8-1 record when converting 40% or more on 3rd Down but went just 1-3 when converting less than 40%. Last week, the 3rd Down problems for the Cougars all started on first and second downs. BYU’s average distance-to-gain on 3rd Down was 9 yards (though the Cougars did improve over the course of the game, averaging 3rd-and-6 in the 2nd Half after a horrific 3rd-and-12 average before halftime). I think BYU will improve on last week’s performance, but still not surpass the 40% mark against an LSU defense that ranked 12th in the nation on 3rd Downs last season. If there is hope for the Cougars, it’s that between graduations and suspensions, the Tigers don’t return hardly anyone from that 2016 defense. UNDER
3. BYU Penalty Yards – LINE: 70 – BYU’s 7 penalties (totaling 70 yards) came at costly times for the offense last week. Six of the seven came against the offense and all but one of those could be considered concentration penalties (as opposed to intensity penalties). Hopefully, the fact that the Cougars have played a game already and LSU has not will allow BYU to hold the advantage in penalty yardage tomorrow. And it could have been much worse in BYU’s opener; Utah had almost double that number with 135 penalty yards last night in its season opener. I think BYU will clean up some of last week’s mental mistakes and finish with a lower total against the Tigers. UNDER
4. BYU Turnovers Lost – LINE: 1.5 – BYU finished last week with a clean slate in the turnover column thanks to some nice work by Thomas Shoaf at the bottom of the pileup following a Tanner Mangum fumble. The Cougars are going to have to duplicate that performance against LSU if they hope to leave New Orleans with a victory tomorrow night. BYU will need to force the LSU offense to go the length of the field and settle for field goals instead of touchdowns. The Cougar defense may even be able to counteract a single BYU turnover with one (or a few) of its own, but if Ty Detmer’s offense turns it over more than that, it will likely spell trouble for BYU. OVER
5. BYU Red Zone Touchdown Scoring – LINE: 50% – In four meaningful trips inside the Red Zone last week, BYU came away with points on three of them- the lone exception being the field goal missed after we iced our own kicker. However, only one of those trips netted a touchdown. This continued a pattern from 2016, when BYU was one of the best teams in the nation in Red Zone scoring (ranked 3rd in the country at 95%) but not so good at scoring touchdowns (finishing 73rd with only 60%). BYU will have to make the most of every trip inside the LSU 20-yard-line on Saturday. Because they likely will be few and far between. UNDER
6. BYU Turnovers Gained – LINE: 1.5 – The BYU defense will need to have one of its best performances of the Kalani Sitake era to give the Cougars a chance tomorrow. And we’ve seen some good performances with 4 turnovers gained against UMass, 5 against Boise State, and 6 against Utah last season. Will the turnover total be closer to those outstanding efforts from 2016 or to the single turnover we saw last week against Portland State? It will definitely be possible to get some interceptions against an unheralded QB in Danny Etling, and inexperience in both the offensive line and receiving corps. And if the BYU defense can not only give the offense short fields, but actually put some points on the board itself, it will go that much further in leading the Cougars to a potential victory. OVER
7. LSU Rushing Yards – LINE: 150 – It seems almost a foregone conclusion that LSU will lean heavily on one of the nation’s top running backs, Derrius Guice, especially considering the inexperience at every other position on the LSU offense. New LSU Offensive Coordinator Matt Canada has shown the ability to adapt his schemes to available personnel over the course of his career and will try to get the ball in Guice’s hands as much as possible. Last year, BYU finished 6-1 when holding opponents under 125 rushing yards. As run-heavy as I expect LSU to be, it may be wiser to consider the remaining six games from 2016. BYU went 3-3 when allowing more than 125 yards. Two of those losses came against teams that also passed for over 300 yards (WVU ran for 149/passed for 332 and BSU ran for 129/passed for 442). I don’t think we’ll see LSU put up passing numbers like that, so we can throw out those two games. In the Toledo win, BYU allowed 187 yards on the ground and 505 yards through the air, but Toledo’s defense allowed BYU to score 55 points. LSU’s defense will be much tougher than that, so we can throw out that game as well. In the three remaining games, BYU went 2-1 against Utah (passed for 194/ran for 169), Mississippi State (passed for 223/ran for 163), and Wyoming (passed for 207/ran for 166). I think LSU will put up yardage totals closer to those against BYU. And how many points resulted from those totals? Utah scored 20, Mississippi State scored 21, and Wyoming scored 21. If BYU can hold the Tigers under 150 yards on the ground, the Cougars should be able to win tomorrow. OVER
8. Total Points – LINE: 47 – When it comes to points, I’m finding it hard to see either of these defenses allowing more than around 20 points tomorrow. I guess there’s always the potential for defensive touchdowns, but I still think we’ll see a low-scoring affair. UNDER
9. LINE: LSU by -15 – BYU COVER – An upset is completely within the realm of possibility. I’ve almost never been more confident in BYU’s ability to cover the spread. But will it be enough? In the end, I expect the Cougars to lose a close, defensive battle. BYU 17, LSU 20

Depth Chart/Roster

Lastly, here is a look at the projected Depth Chart for Saturday’s game.

You can download the JPG and PDF versions of the latest Depth Chart, as well as a current roster, at the following location:

Go Cougs!

The No. 13 LSU Tigers will square off against the BYU Cougars in their 2017 season opener. The game is being held at a neutral site. The two will face off at NRG Stadium (home Texans) in Houston, Texas. Kickoff is set for 9:30 EST and will be televised on the ESPN Network.

Taking a look at the Week 1 betting lines, the oddsmakers have LSU listed as a 12.5-point favorite with the total set at 47.5 points. Note their are a couple books that are still offering the opening line of 12.

LSU vs BYU Vegas Odds & Betting Preview

Things didn’t go as planned for LSU in 2016. The Tigers came into the season with the hopes of playing for a national championship. Those hopes didn’t last long. Long-time head coach Les Miles was fired after a 2-2 start. The Tigers turned to Ed Orgeron and he showed enough as the interim to be awarded the full gig.

Lsu Byu Line Classes

LSU finished up at 8-4, capping off the year with a 29-9 blowout win over Louisville in the Citrus Bowl. Orgeron will have just 11 starters back from last season, but has plenty of talent to work with. Expectations aren’t quite as high as they were a year ago, but this is still expected to compete for a SEC West title.

BYU fans have to look back and wonder what could have been in 2016. The Cougars closed out the year with 5 straight wins to finish up at 9-4. However, it’s the four losses that you will hear the most about. All four of those defeats came by a combined 8 points.

Either way it was a better than expected season. Many wondered how the team would fare replacing head coach Bronco Mendenhall. There’s plenty of optimism going forward. BYU has a respectable 13 starters back, plus an experienced QB in junior Tanner Magnum.

College Football Free Pick Against the Spread: BYU +12.5

I think the value here is with BYU as a double-digit dog. I think there’s a lot of excitement with the potential of LSU this year, given the new offense and talent on the roster. I’m just not quite sold it’s going to be as good as people think. At least right out of the gate.

Click here for more free college football picks against the spread.

Lsu Byu Line Schedule

At the same time, I don’t think the Cougars are getting near enough respect here. This team has proven it can compete with the Power 5 programs. They played 6 of them last year, as well as Boise State and a very good Toledo team. They might not win this game, but I think they can keep it respectable.

LSU diddn’t just lose a big piece of their running game in Leonard Fournette, they lost 5 of their top 6 receiving threats. Danny Etling is back and was an upgrade over Brandon Harris, but this is a guy who couldn’t make it at Purdue. BYU has 7 starters back on a defense that allowed just 19.5 ppg and have a strong history of being a hard team to run against.

As for the Tigers defense, I believe the Cougars can have some success. LSU only has 5 starters back on that side of the ball and lose their top 5 tacklers from last year. Not to mention their star returning player, Arden Key is doubtful with a shoulder injury (6th best tackler, 12 sacks in 2016). BYU has 4 starters back on the o-line, so I don’t see the Tigers dominating the line of scrimmage.