Eastern Michigan Eagles (1-3 SU, 2-2 ATS) vs. No. 9 LSU Tigers (3-0 SU, 1-2 ATS)
College Football Week 5
Date/Time: Saturday October 3rd, 7:00PM EST
Where: Tiger Stadium Baton Rouge, L.A.
TV: ESPNU
by Jay, NCAA Football Handicapper, Predictem.com
Point Spread: EMU +45/LSU 45
Over/Under Total: 60.5
The 9th ranked LSU Tigers will introduce the Eastern Michigan Eagles to a Saturday night in Baton Rouge this weekend. The Eagles are expected to be nothing more than an entertainment factor to an LSU team that is favored by an enormous 45 points. However we have seen LSU struggle as heavy favorites in the past and as recently as last week they struggled to put away Syracuse as 24 point favorites. Therefore it will be interesting to see what type of LSU team hits the field this Saturday night when the Eagles come into Baton Rouge.
In the last week, it appears there has been more talk about Leonard Fournette sitting out his junior season than there has been surrounding Eastern Michigan. In case you missed it, there has been a rumor circulating that star running back Leonoard Fournette was potentially going to sit out his junior year to avoid injury and ensure his premiere NFL draft stock. However, there was not any substance behind that rumor and we have heard similar rumors like that in the past. If you remember, that same rumor was mentioned often during JaDaveon Clowneys sophomore year at South Carolina.
Of course anytime you rush for more than 200 yards in back to back games while amassing 631 yards with 8 touchdowns in just 3 games, all kinds of rumors are going to swirl both good and bad. The good news for LSU is that they clearly have the best tailback in the nation in their backfield. Fournette was heralded as the top freshman in the country last year and he has quickly established himself as one of the best in the entire country in any class this year. LSUs offense has been nothing short of dominate on the ground averaging 315 yards per game on the ground (7th in FBS).
As a result of the elite rushing game, LSU has not had to rely on the young arm of sophomore Brandon Harris. In fact, it could be said that LSU would like to avoid relying on the arm of Harris this season. Harris has not exactly proved himself as a quarterback yet but he could provide a nice compliment to the rushing attack as the season progresses. This week LSU will face off against one of the worse defenses in college football which is a big reason for the large 45 point spread. Eastern Michigan has given up over 500 yards per game on defense and ranks in the bottom 10 teams in college football.
Obviously it appears that LSU should have 4 quarters to pad their stats against such a weak defense. I mentioned earlier about the rumors flying around about Fournette earlier and discussed the strong points of having the best back in the nation in the Tigers backfield. However, I did not discuss the bad news. The bad news is that with all the talk surrounding Fournette this week, I tend to question how focused LSU will be once kickoff arrives Saturday night.
The Tigers have a pretty distracting road trip on the horizon at South Carolina next week so it will be interesting to see if they can take care of business the way they are expected to against Eastern Michigan. Last week Syracuse closed out strong in the 4th quarter in a 34-24 loss to cover LSUs 24 points that were being given. It was actually the 2nd time this year LSU gave up ground late in the 4th quarter to allow their opponents to cover going back to the Mississippi State game. Therefore, I am interested to see if LSU can jump on Eastern Michigan and keep the throttle going all 4 quarters this Saturday in Baton Rouge.
Jay’s Pick to Cover the Point Spread: LSU is just 2-4-1 ATS in their last 7 games and I think this could easily be one of those uninspiring type games. I tend to think that Eastern Michigan finds a way or two to score points meaning LSU really has to post a big number. I just do not think it happens. Take Eastern Michigan +45
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