LSU vs Washington Odds

Written by InfoPlays

LSU vs Washington Odds The LSU Tigers from the SEC travel to take on the Washington Huskies from the Pac-10 this weekend. LSU is looking for a bounce-back year after underachieving last year, and they feel they can do it behind a new quarterback and a new defensive coordinator. There is optimism in Washington with the debut of new head coach Steve Sarkisian and the return of QB Jake Locker. The Huskies will be looking for their first win in 21 months Saturday, but you can expect a packed crowd for this season-opener. We have taken a look at the college football odds for this game where the linesmakers have listed LSU -18 over Washington with a total set of 53.5 points.

After a BCS Championship in 2007, the LSU Tigers struggled to an 8-5 record last season and couldn’t manage to win even half of their conference games. They got terrible QB play and the defense was far too often put in tough situations, and instead of bending they broke more times than not. Jarrett Lee handled the QB duties in the first half of last season, throwing 16 interceptions to only 14 touchdowns. Then Jordan Jefferson took over, eventually completing 11 of first 12 passes in the Chick-Fil-A bowl en route to a dominant 38-3 win over a very good Georgia Tech team. Jefferson leads an offense with a lot of potential, and one that will implement the Wildcat Formation to utilize backup QB Russell Shepard’s skills. Head coach Les Miles plans on using Shepard at QB, RB and WR at different times this season. LSU’s biggest concern is on the defensive side of the ball, where they gave up more than 50 points to both Florida and Georgia in defeat. New defensive coordinator, John Chavis, held the same position at Tennessee since 1995. The Vols had a tremendous defense last year, and he’ll bring his philosophy to Baton Rouge in hopes of turning around this defense.

Sarkisian served as offensive coordinator under Pete Carroll at USC, and he has a big job ahead in trying to turn around an 0-12 Huskies team from last season under Ty Willingham. Back in 2007, Les Miles jokingly made fun of USC’s schedule, calling the likes of Washington, Stanford and UCLA “real juggernauts.” So though he was simply joking, the Huskies can use this as a motivational tool to get ready for the Tigers. They’ll need all the help they can get, so it’s not a bad idea. A great recruiting class and a healthy return by QB Jake Locker gives Washington a fighting chance. The junior passed for 14 scores and rushed for more than 1,000 yards and 13 touchdowns as a freshman in 2007. Locker won’t be asked to run as much, instead he’ll be a pocket-passer like Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart were under Sarkisian at USC. Overall team improvement will rest on the defense, where the Huskies allowed 38.6 points/game last year, which ranked fourth-worst in the nation. This game marks the furthest that LSU will have to travel to play in the history of the program. Miles has been dominant against non-conference foes since taking over the Tigers’ program in 2005, winning all 19 games.

Comments

Got something to say?