Florida Gators vs. LSU Tigers
Leonard Fournette and Les Miles’ LSU Tigers will keep their eyes on the College Football Playoff on Saturday evening when they welcome an also undefeated Florida Gators team to Death Valley and Tiger Stadium. Fournette and Brandon Harris will look to continue what has been a dominant start to 2015 for the Tigers by picking up a monstrous SEC victory. The Gators will have a much more difficult time now that Will Grier has been suspended for the rest of the season and Jim McElwain will have to rely on unproven Treon Harris to get the job done at quarterback.
Details for Saturday’s game are below:
Date: Saturday, October 17
Start Time: 7 p.m. ET
Location: Baton Rouge, LA
Stadium: Tiger Stadium
TV Info: ESPN
Live Stream: WatchESPN
Radio: Here
Ticket information: For LSU Tigers ticket info click here. For Florida Gators ticket info click here.
Keys to Victory
The suspension and subsequent absence of Gators quarterback Will Grier is the black cloud hanging over this game, without question. Sophomore Treon Harris will get his first start of the season as Grier’s replacement after only playing limited, garbage time snaps in Florida’s first two games and making rare appearances since. How Harris performs in his relief of Grier is obviously going to be huge for the Gators. McElwain says that he expects the offense to be the same with Harris in, but there’s a reason that Grier was the starter over Harris. Regardless of what that reason is, Harris has to step up to the plate on a big stage on Saturday evening.
However, we’re kidding ourselves if we say that the fate of this game isn’t largely dependent on if Florida can do anything to stop Leonard Fournette. Fournette has arguably been the most dominant player in the country to this point, but the Gators also are the best defense that the star running back and the Tigers will have faced all season. If that defense holds up and at least somewhat slows down Fournette, then Florida could have a chance to strike and pull off what would be a surprise victory in the SEC. If Fournette continues to run wild like a man among boys, then the Gators might as well get on the bus early.
Betting Odds
Point Spread: LSU Tigers -7.5
Moneyline: LSU Tigers -300, Florida Gators +250
O/U: 47.5
Prediction
I probably would have picked LSU to come out on top in this huge SEC battle if both teams were coming into it full-force. With Grier suspended for Florida, though, that only makes me lean even more heavily in favor of the Tigers to stay undefeated.
Final Score: Florida Gators: 20, LSU Tigers: 31