No. 16 LSU vs UCLA

Time: Saturday, September 21st at 2:30pm CT

Place: Tiger Stadium, Baton Rouge, Louisiana

TV: ABC/ESPN+

Radio: 98.1 (Baton Rouge), 870/105.3 (New Orleans), 790 (Houston)

Spread: LSU -24.5

O/U: 56

LSU is fresh off a thrilling 36-33 win over South Carolina in Columbia. Now the Tigers head home to host the UCLA Bruins for the first time ever in Tiger Stadium. The Tigers will look to cleanup some things from last week against a UCLA team that's in its first season under new Head Coach Deshaun Foster.

Can LSU get revenge for their 38-27 season opening loss from 2021? Can UCLA turn their season around after losing 42-13 against Indiana last week? Find out what we at Death Valley Insider think:

This UCLA game couldn't come at a better time for LSU. The Bruins are a team still trying to find themselves in 2024, you can probably say the same thing about LSU as it seems they're still trying to figure out who they're going to be this season, but this is a game of two teams with very different trajectories on the season.

UCLA is 0-1, with a narrow win over Hawaii and a meltdown against Indiana. I'm not sure I've seen enough from LSU's defense to trust them with a spread north of 24, but the Tigers should win this one fairly easily. Nussmeier and the offense should put plenty of points on the board, the question is, can LSU's defense settle in and deliver the showing that this coaching staff expects of them. I think they'll get it done and I have LSU winning by three scores.

Prediction: LSU 37, UCLA 17

LSU finally get a chance to avenge their 2021 season-opening loss to UCLA this weekend, and in my opinion, this game shouldn't end up being as close as the last one. The Bruins are going through some coaching changes and have not had the greatest start to the season. They hardly snuck by Hawaii before getting blown out by Indiana last weekend.

The Tigers offense has started to find its rhythm the last couple weeks, but what they can't afford to do is have another slow start like they did last week against South Carolina. They need to assert their dominance from the first drive to the last one. This game is a perfect opportunity to make a statement; blow UCLA out and the fanbase starts to feel a lot better about this team, but if they don't win this game by 17+, then there will still be a lot of question marks going forward.

Prediction: LSU 42, UCLA 16

While the Tigers had a good win last week against the Gamecocks last weekend, it was not great, and I still have some concerns especially because of their slow starts. As with Nicolls and South Carolina, there were many times I just shook my head in disbelief over the lack of execution on some plays. That being said, a win is a win and LSU is now 2-1. This week, they are no doubt the better team and should be able to dismantle the Bruins game plan quickly. If they don't, the list of concerns will continue to grow.

Prediction: LSU 34 - UCLA 20

LSU will be facing off against UCLA on Saturday afternoon. The Tigers are coming off a thrilling road win against South Carolina and looking to use that momentum going into UCLA. The UCLA football program is not in a good place right now and LSU should handle business. However, that is what we said against Nicholls, and we didn’t really see that happen.

UCLA has a terrible offense, and it would be great to see the LSU defense tune some things up and keep the Bruins to a low score. I really hope LSU will keep them to no more then 14 or 17 points, but I am still not 100% trusting this defense. The offense for LSU should have no problem lighting the UCLA defense up. I am predicting a convincing win from the Tigers as they are the much better team, and it is not close.

Prediction: LSU 48, UCLA 20

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