The Mississippi State Bulldogs and LSU Tigers open their 2020 regular season at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, La., for a 3:30 p.m. ET kickoff Saturday. We analyze the Mississippi State-LSU college football betting odds and lines, with picks and best bets.
Mississippi State at LSU: Betting odds and lines
Odds via BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated Wednesday at 12:25 p.m. ET.
- Money line: LSU -715 (bet $715 to win $100) | Mississippi State +490 (bet $100 to win $490)
- Against the spread/ATS: LSU -16.5, -110 (bet $110 to win $100) | Mississippi State +16.5, -110 (bet $110 to win $100)
- Over/Under: 55.5, Over -110 (bet $110 to win $100) | Under -110 (bet $110 to win $100)
Mississippi State at LSU: Three things to know
- The Tigers will allow 25 percent capacity at Death Valley in Baton Rouge or roughly 26,000 fans out of the 102,321 available seats, so it will be a sizeable crowd on hand.
- The defending national champions begin the post-Joe Burrow era, and they will also have to do without star WR Ja’Marr Chase, who elected to opt-out and prepare for the 2021 NFL Draft. QB Myles Brennan takes over under center.
- Head coach Mike Leach takes over at Mississippi State, trying to employ his Air Raid offense in Starkville. It might take some time to get his guys into the program to make it work. Stanford transfer QB K.J. Costello is expected to be tabbed as the starter under center.
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Mississippi State at LSU: Odds, betting lines and picks
Prediction
LSU 38, Mississippi State 20
Money line (ML)
LSU (-715) opens defense of their title as heavy home favorites. You just cannot back a team straight up by risking more than seven times your potential return. It’s silly gambling to operate that way, unless you’re tossing them into a nine- or 10-team parlay. Even then. AVOID.
Against the spread (ATS)
It’s a rather big number, and we don’t know a lot about the new LSU (-16.5, -110) offense just yet. The Tigers will obviously have a very, very new look with no Burrow, Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Justin Jefferson and Chase no longer in purple and gold, and the defense seeing K’Lavon Chaisson, Grant Delpit and Patrick Queen also moving on.
But programs like LSU simply reload, and you can trust the stability of the coaching staff over Mississippi State, who will be changing coaching staff while seeing a lack of spring and summer practices due to COVID. Expect Mississippi State (+16.5, -110) to start off really rusty.
Over/Under (O/U)
OVER 55.5 (-110) is a good play in the opener, although both sides could get off to a bit of a slow start. You know as the first half gets going that the LSU offense will figure things out. And Mississippi State will go to the air early and often, trying to employ their new system. An up-tempo offense and more passing is always a favorite of Over bettors.
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