Welcome everyone to the latest game preview for the LSU Tigers! This week, LSU heads into Tiger Stadium to take on the Chattanooga Mocs.
Last Week: The start of the season was quite successful for LSU as they shut down the BYU Cougars 27-0. The Mocs had a less than ideal start with a 23-17 loss to Jacksonville State back on August 26th.
Last Meeting: It’s been a long time since the last meeting of these teams. The first meeting was back in 1954 and the Tigers beat Chattanooga 26-19.
Stories to Watch:
Another Shutout? Last week was a big surprise for several fans when they held BYU to under 100 yards in the Superdome. If that defense shows up against a team like Chattanooga, it seems inevitable that LSU will shut them down. In the Mocs season opener, they were held to 294 yards of total offense by Jacksonville State. Imagine what LSU’s defense could do inside of Tiger Stadium against a team like this.
How Much Does Guice Get? One of the big questions coming out of the first game is will the amount of touches that Derrius Guice got will be 20-25 carries a game? As of right now, head coach Ed Orgeron has said that he will look to reduce that amount to a reasonable number with the other talent that LSU has in the backfield.
As long as Guice doesn’t get to 20 carries at the half, he should be ok as the season progresses. One of the issues last season was an overreliance on Leonard Fournette despite the lingering injuries he was suffering from. Guice could probably go for 20 carries in an entire game, but getting to that point at half isn’t exactly what you want to see early on in the season.
LSU Will Win If:
All LSU has to do is show up and not be distracted and a win should be in hand. The Mocs aren’t exactly the toughest game on the schedule. An added bonus is if they can shut down Etling after halftime and really let Myles Brennan show what he can do.
Chattanooga Will Win If:
The Mocs will need to do quite a bit of things if they want to even keep it competitive and that’s just a fact that Chattanooga fans have figured out once the game was put on the schedule. It would require some seriously poor defensive efforts for LSU to lose this game.
-Clint Domingue