LSU-BYU preview
TigerBait.com senior writer Bryan Lazare with a fully loaded pregame notebook as well as a game prediction.
Will Clapp played his high school football at Brother Martin, which is less than ten miles from New Orleans’ Mercedes Benz Superdome.
Yet, Clapp never participated in a game there.
Therefore, Clapp was quite happy to hear that LSU’s season-opener against BYU on Saturday (8:30 p.m. Central/ESPN) was moved to the Superdome because of the catastrophic flooding in Houston because of Hurricane Harvey.
“I never got to play in the Dome in high school,” Clapp said. “All of the New Orleans guys are happy about playing there. I know Donte Jackson jumped up pretty high when (Director of Athletics) Joe Alleva told us at practice. I am not going to have any jitters about playing in the Dome.”
Rashard Lawrence, who went to Monroe (La.) Neville High School, will be in uniform for a game in the Superdome for a fourth time. Neville played in three state title games while Lawrence was at Neville. He didn’t play in the game as a freshman. Lawrence started the games in his junior and senior seasons.
“I played against Warren Easton and Edna Karr in my junior and senior years,” Lawrence said. “I love playing there. There is nothing like it. It is a special place.
“For a Louisiana kid to get to play in the biggest building in the state means something special. Some guys from the state have never gotten a chance to play in the Dome. To get to play there now means the world to them.”
LSU has not played in the Superdome in six seasons. The Tigers’ last appearance was their 21-0 loss to Alabama in the 2011 national title game. LSU hasn’t had a regular-season game at the Superdome in ten years when it beat Tulane 34-9.
An extremely high number of redshirt freshmen and true freshmen are expected to see playing time on offense or defense. The starting right guard will be a true freshman – Saahdiq Charles. Ed Ingram, another true freshman, will divide time with Charles.
With Arden Key out due to a shoulder injury, either redshirt freshman Ray Thornton or true freshman K’Lavon Chaisson will start at rush outside linebacker. True freshman Kary Vincent is expected to be the No. 1 nickel back. True freshman Grant Delpit is competing with Ed Paris at a safety spot.
No true freshman offensive lineman has started the season-opener in the modern era of LSU football. Do not expect lower expectations for Charles and Ingram.
“I will treat (Charles and Ingram) like any other starter,” Clapp said. “When they mess up, they will get an earful from me or (offensive line) coach (Jeff) Grimes. Having a freshman there doesn’t make me nervous. I just know there needs to be more communication.
“I know we have three quality freshman offensive lineman (Austin Deculus is the other one). That does not usually happen. The offensive line has jelled. We have been hitting on each other for about five weeks. That kind of gets old.”
Fast facts about LSU
1. Over the last 14 years, LSU has a 54-1 record against non- conference opponents in the regular season. The one defeat came against Wisconsin in Green Bay in last year’s season opener. The Tigers have won 19 of their last 21 season-openers – the other defeat occurring at Virginia Tech in 2002.
2. LSU has a 4-1 record in neutral-site season openers. The Tigers registered victories against North Carolina in Atlanta (2010), against Oregon in Arlington, Tex. (2011), against TCU in Arlington (2013) and against Wisconsin in Houston (2014). The defeat came last year against the Badgers at Lambeau Field.
3. LSU had a 6-2 record with Ed Orgeron as coach last season. All six of the victories came by at least 15 points. Orgeron is just the third Louisiana native to be the Tigers head football coach. The other two Louisiana natives to coach LSU were Gaynell Tinsley (1948-54) and Jerry Stovall (1980-83).
4. The Tigers’ first two games in 2017 will be against teams they have never played – BYU on Saturday and Chattanooga the following week in their home opener.
5. Danny Etling will be making his 24th collegiate start at quarterback Saturday. Etling made 12 starts in two seasons at Purdue. The last LSU quarterback with more career starts heading into a season was Herb Tyler. Heading into the 1998 campaign, Tyler had made 28 starts – all for the Tigers.
6. Derrius Guice needs 45 rushing yards to move past Billy Cannon into 16th place on LSU’s all-time list. Guice has seven 100-yard career rushing games. Only seven players have more – Kevin Faulk, Charles Alexander, Leonard Fournette, Dalton Hilliard, Jeremy Hill, Charles Scott and Harvey Williams.
Fast facts about BYU
1. BYU has played a Southeastern Conference team each of the last two seasons. The Cougars lost to Missouri 20-16 in 2015 and defeated Mississippi State 28-21 in overtime last year. BYU will play at Mississippi State in October this season.
2. LSU enters the game ranked No. 13 in the country by the Associated Press. The Cougars have lost seven of their last ten games against ranked teams. BYU’s last victory against a ranked opponent came two seasons ago when it defeated No. 20 Boise 35-24.
3. There are six 2016 bowl teams on the Cougars’ 2017 schedule. LSU is one of those six teams. The other opponents who played in the 2016 postseason are Utah, Wisconsin, Boise, Mississippi State and Hawaii.
4. As an independent, BYU is not considered a Power 5 Conference team. In the past five seasons, the Cougars have played 26 games against teams from the five power conferences. BYU has an 11-15 record in those games. In 2016, the Cougars beat three power conference teams – Arizona, Michigan State and Mississippi State.
5. Quarterback Tanner Mangum, who has made just 13 starts, ranks in the top 20 in four BYU career passing categories. Mangum is No. 17 in touchdown passes with 27, No. 18 in passing yardage with 3,812, No. 19 in pass attempts with 506 and No. 19 in pass completions with 305. Current Cougars offensive coordinator Ty Detmer is the school leader in all four categories – 121 touchdown passes, 15,031 passing yards, 1,530 pass attempts and 958 pass completions.
6. BYU’s Kalani Sitake is the first NCAA head football coach from Tonga. Sitake was a running back at BYU in 1994 and from 1997-2000. Sitake has a 10-4 record with the Cougars. There are more than 40 players of Polynesian descent on the BYU roster. In addition, there are 11 assistants and support staff members of Polynesian descent.
PREDICTION
So, there will be another LSU football season which has been affected by the weather. The record-setting flooding in Houston caused the Advocare Texas Kickoff game to be moved from NRG Stadium to the Mercedes Benz Superdome. The Tigers were going to have a huge advantage in the number of fans in Houston. The discrepancy between LSU supporters and BYU supporters will just be a little greater in New Orleans. It is difficult to express an opinion about a team one has never seen outside of a few minutes of stretching and drill work. In addition, there will be suspended players – probably about seven or eight. Orgeron has not revealed the names of the suspended players. This Tigers team is different from the one which beat Louisville in the Citrus Bowl to end last season. At most, there will be seven players starting at the same position – Etling, Guice, offensive left tackle K.J. Malone, nose tackle Greg Gilmore, inside linebacker Donnie Alexander, cornerback Donte Jackson and safety John Battle. Undoubtedly. LSU has a speed advantage. A young defense is going to experience some growing pains. Etling and Guice should be the difference in this one.
LSU 28, BYU 16
Here are the statistical comparisons between LSU and BYU. LSU’s statistics are from the 2016 season.
LSU points per game: 28.3
BYU points allowed per game: 6.0
LSU rushing yards per game: 233.0
BYU rushing yards allowed per game: 86.0
LSU passing yards per game: 190.1
BYU passing yards allowed per game: 134.0
LSU pass completion rate: 58 percent
BYU pass completion rate allowed: 44 percent
LSU total yards per game: 423.1
BYU total yards allowed per game: 220.0
LSU turnovers per game: 1.4
BYU turnovers forced per game: 1.0
LSU sacks allowed per game: 1.6
BYU sacks per game: 3.0
LSU third-down conversion rate: 43 percent
BYU third-down conversion rate allowed: 37 percent
BYU points per game: 20.0
LSU points allowed per game: 15.8
BYU rushing yards per game: 171.0
LSU rushing yards allowed per game: 117.2
BYU passing yards per game: 194.0
LSU passing yards allowed per game: 197.2
BYU pass completion rate: 59 percent
LSU pass completion rate allowed: 53 percent
BYU total yards per game: 365.0
LSU total yards allowed per game: 314.4
BYU turnovers per game: 0.0
LSU turnovers forced per game: 1.4
BYU sacks allowed per game: 1.0
LSU sacks per game: 3.0
BYU third-down conversion rate: 31 percent
LSU third-down conversion rate allowed: 32 percent
Here are the individual statistical leaders for LSU and BYU. LSU’s leaders are players from last season who will be available to play Saturday.
Rushing
LSU: Derrius Guice – 183 carries, 1,387 yards, 15 touchdowns
BYU: Squally Canada – 16 carries, 98 yards, 1 touchdown
Passing
LSU: Danny Etling: 269 attempts, 160 completions, 60 percent, 2,123 yards, 11 touchdowns, 5 interceptions
BYU: Tanner Mangum: 27 attempts, 16 completions, 59 percent, 194 yards, 1 touchdown, 0 interceptions
Receiving
LSU: DJ Chark: 26 catches, 466 yards, 3 touchdowns
BYU: Aleva Hifo: 4 catches, 16 yards
Tackles
LSU: Donnie Alexander – 45
BYU: Fred Warner – 10
Tackles-for-loss
LSU: Devin White – 3
BYU: Sione Takitaki – 3
Sacks
LSU: Greg Gilmore, Frank Herron, Rashard Lawrence, Devin White – 1
BYU: Sione Takitaki – 2
Quarterback-hurries
LSU: Donnie Alexander – 2
BYU: Trajan Pili, Solomane Wolfgramm – 1
Interceptions
LSU: Donte Jackson – 2
BYU: Zayne Anderson – 1
Pass breakups
LSU: Donte Jackson – 8
BYU: Zayne Anderson, Troy Warner – 1
Return yardage
LSU: Derrius Guice – 11 kickoff returns, 223 yards
BYU: Aleva Hifo – 1 kickoff return, 23 yards
Punting
LSU: Josh Growden – 57 punts, 41.4-yard average
BYU: Jonny Linehan – 5 punts, 42.6-yard average
Kick-scoring
LSU: Jack Gonsoulin – 1-of-1 on extra points
BYU: Rhett Almond – 2-of-3 on field goals, 2-of-2 on extra points