Saturday night in Pasadena, California, the LSU Tigers will finally get back on the field. In a wild week that saw them relocate football operations to Houston, Texas, at NRG Stadium, they are that much closer to the season debut.
There are plenty of storylines heading into this game. For starters, how will uprooting to Houston impact the team? The offense will have a new look under passing game coordinator DJ Mangas and offensive coordinator Jake Peetz, who spent a season under Joe Brady in Carolina. Max Johnson and Kayshon Boutte headline the offense looking to return to their 2019 form.
On the topic of returning to 2019 form, we have starting cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. Last season was not what many expected from the boundary defender that stole the show against Clemson in the CFP national championship game on the defensive side. New defensive coordinator Darote Jones hopes to bring back the defense known for taking the ball away.
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As we look forward to the game on Saturday night in the Rose Bowl, our colleagues at College Football News break down how the LSU-UCLA game ends.
What CFN Says…
UCLA will come out red hot.
The defense will be flying all over the field, Thompson-Robinson will be great on his first two drives, and social media will be all over the Bruins as they get out to an early lead.
But LSU will work their way back.
They lines will start to take over as the game goes on, the secondary will clamp down and pick off a few passes, and Johnson will overcome a mediocre first half with a great final 30 minutes.
UCLA will look great against a terrific team, but it’s not going to have quite enough to pull off the win in the final ten minutes. It’ll have two late drives with take the momentum back, but LSU will hold firm on both of them.
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