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Auburn Travels to Death Valley to Take on LSU
LSU Favored by 8
10/24/09
Auburn Travels to Death Valley to take on LSU where oddsmakers at 5dimes.com have installed LSU as 8 point favorites with a total of 52.
After opening the season 5-0 this year it looked like Coach Gene Chizik and Offensive Coordinator Gus Malzahn were the answers to the Auburn fans prayers. After a disappointing season last year that cost Coach Tommy Tubberville his job no one really knew what to expect from this Tiger football team.
Their first 5 Games were not very difficult, but they did beat Tennessee 26-22, so Auburn looked to be for real. Then Auburn went into Fayetteville, AR and just got dominated from start to finish and lost 44-23. Their defense had been exposed, and their offense didnt have the same fire power it showed against lesser competition.
The next week they had the perfect Game to get things going against Kentucky, but oNCe again the defense couldnt come up with the stops necessary, and the offense just couldnt consistently move the ball down the field. After losing their last two Games this Auburn team is at a crossroads, and desperately need a victory, but unfortunately for them they have to travel down to Death Valley to play the LSU Tigers at night.
This LSU team also needs a win after dropping a close Game to the Florida Gators. The Tigers still have hopes of an SEC West title and with a date with Alabama still left on the Schedule they cant afford to slip up this weekend.
PRIMETIME MATCHUP
This Auburn offense under Offensive Coordinator Gus Malzahn wants to establish the run first and foremost to open the field up for their passing attack. QB Chris Todd is not a QB who can do it by himself he needs help with the running Game to open the field for his Receivers to get open.
Arkansas was able to put Todd into a lot of situations where he had to throw the ball, and he was unable to execute. This LSU defense is solid against the run, so expect LSU and Defensive Coordinator John Chavis to do whatever it has to to stop the Auburn rushing attack. This Tiger defense held Florida to just 196 yards rushing when they are averaging over 250 yards per Game on the ground, and on the year their defense is allowing 130 yards a Game.
THE FINAL VERDICT
Much like Auburn, LSU also has been a difficult team to figure out. The strength of their teams the past few years has been their defense, but their defense struggled early on this year, but they are starting to find their rhythm. We expect LSU to be able to at least slow down the Auburn rushing attack enough to put Auburn QB Chris Todd into some bad situations, and he will make mistakes, and when he does this LSU offense with RB Charles SCott will capitalize early in the Game.
This LSU offense has also had problems getting things going early on in the season, but they have very talented RBs in Charles SCott and Keiland Williams. When their offense gets the ball expect them to pound the ball with these two backs, and move down the field against this weak Auburn defense. If they can get an early lead in the Game this Game will be over because we do not believe QB Chris Todd is capable of bringing his team from behind to win the Game, and LSU will go into their Game against Alabama with a chance to take control of the SEC West race.
LSU ranks number 9 in the Nation in turnover margin. They have a yards per point number of 22 defensively which is fantastic, compare that to 14 for Auburn. As a matter of fact, if we use the yards per point numbers for both squads to make a line on this Game, the number would be LSU -12, perhaps higher depending on how many points you want to allot LSU for home field. With that in mind, we’ll lay the -8 here with LSU
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