Saturday, Sept. 14
12 p.m. Eastern, 9 p.m. Pacific
ABC, ESPN Plus
The 2024 college football season moves into Week 3, and the LSU Tigers have a lot of reasons to be concerned. For one thing, they lost to USC in Week 1. Then they struggled with Nicholls in Week 2, giving up a lot more points than they hoped or expected to. Sure, they were depressed after the USC loss on a short week, but even then, the effort against Nicholls fell well short of their standards. Now they have to deal with the reality that defensive tackle Jacobian Guillory is out for the season with an injury. That’s the very last thing they needed going into SEC play, and more precisely a road game against South Carolina this Saturday. South Carolina is coming off a strong performance in a road blowout of Kentucky. South Carolina barked as a 10-point road underdog.
Now we will see if the Gamecocks can continue to make noise, this time at home in SEC competition. LSU and South Carolina have rarely played in the SEC over the years, part of the weird rotation in which certain schools don’t meet that often. Let’s see which school can pounce on a unique opportunity in an SEC matchup which is anything but commonplace.
LSU Tigers-South Carolina Gamecocks Odds
Spread: LSU -7 (-110), South Carolina +7 (-110)
Total: 49.5 (Over -110, Under -110)
Underdog moneyline: South Carolina +220
Get more breakdown of the LSU-South Carolina battle off our “3 Dog Thursday Podcast” by clicking play below,
South Carolina Has A Real Shot
The appeal of South Carolina as the underdog is considerable, not just because the Gamecocks made Kentucky look bad last week in Lexington, but also because LSU has not offered much reason to be optimistic about the Tigers this season. The setback against USC – after leading by four points and having the ball midway through the fourth quarter in Week 1 – was painful. Now the Jacobian Guillory injury will deal another blow to the Tigers’ front four. South Carolina now has a much better chance of being able to run the ball and control the line of scrimmage against the LSU defensive line. South Carolina as an underdog play is very attractive in this game, but what might be an even more attractive bet to make is the over, given that LSU is probably going to give up at least 17 points if not more, given the lack of depth on its defensive front.
LSU, meanwhile, should be able to score a reasonable amount. Quarterback Garrett Nussmeier played well against USC and should be able to distribute the ball to a lot of fast wide receivers. LSU could get into trouble, though, if the problem it had against USC – not finishing red zone drives – resurfaces here. South Carolina could score against the shorthanded LSU defense, and the Tigers might pay a severe price if they kick too many field goals. South Carolina plus the seven and over the total are solid plays to make here in Week 3 of the season and LSU’s SEC opener for 2024.