2. LSU Tigers
Rank: 5 | Opponent: 22 Mississippi State Bulldogs | Start Time: 7 p.m. ET
One week can change a lot of things in college football. Coming into last week, the LSU Tigers seemed to be in a position where they might be on the decline. They were coming off a tough loss to the Florida Gators and were then welcoming the second-ranked team in the country, the Georgia Bulldogs, to town. Suffice it to say that things looked relatively bleak for the Tigers in that matchup and what a loss would mean moving forward.
Rather than suffering another loss, though, the Tigers had an upset of their own in store. In the friendly confines of Death Valley, LSU took the Bulldogs to task in Week 7. With a strong defensive performance that shut down Jake Fromm and the running back corps of Georgia flanked by a fantastic performance from Joe Burrow, the Tigers pulled off the upset and moved back up the polls to No. 5.
However, the tests aren’t stopping for the Tigers this week as they now face their third-straight ranked opponent, welcoming the Mississippi State Bulldogs to town. Make no mistake, this Mississippi State team is flawed. What’s more, you won’t find me in the camp of Nick Fitzgerald believers as, though he has nice dual-threat ability, I don’t fully trust his arm or decision-making on a consistent basis.
While that may be so and may lead to struggles for Mississippi State at time, their defense is no joke. Led by the likes of Jeffery Simmons and Montez Sweat, they’ve proven to be able to cause issues against anyone. And though LSU’s offense has proven themselves, that could be the case in this one coming off such a high, which would put the Bulldogs in a position to pull off an upset on Saturday.