LSU -1.5 @7PM ET

Miss State has been impressive thus far and against CUSA runner up last week scoring 57 points on 60 plays. It was a misleading victory that in my opinion is giving us value this week. They did not even eclipse 500 yards in that game, and Nick Fitzgerald has not proven he can pass the ball against good defenses. LSU very capable of taking away his running game as they did last year holding this team to 56 rushing yards. Fitzgerald against 2 opponents this year has only completed 59% of his passes. Against Auburn, Bama, and LSU this offense struggled big time. On paper you see Miss State scored 20 points at LSU, but they had just 270 yards and those points came late when Les Miles went conservative on offense.

LSU looks like a different team offensively this year so far. Danny Etling is completing 71% of his passes and the running game continues to be dominant with Derrius Guice who actually averaged more yards per carry, had more TD, and more rushing yards than Leonard Fournette a year ago. Defensively this team looks stout once again and gets their best player back in Arden Key for the first time all year. I expect LSU to dominate this game from start to finish as there is no look ahead spot for them here.

Last week was Stanford's worst game of the year. They can only play better. San Diego State got their big win against the PAC12 last week beating Arizona State on the road 30-20. San Diego State is always a difficult match up and they always challenge power 5 schools, but this matchup is a difficult one for them, because Stanford plays a similar brand of football. Stanford won't have a hard time preparing for this game this week because they play a similar style and Stanford really wants to get back on track.

Stanford coming into the year with their most experienced team in a while with 16 returning starters including their QB Keller Christ and an exciting tailback in Bryce Love. San Diego State also the favorites in the Mountain West West Division, but the division is down this year and San Diego State is more or less going to win it by default. They have only 11 starters returning they lose Donnel Pumphrey. Defensively they run a 3-3-5 that relies on speed and is typically a bad match up for a power running team. Stanford is too well coached and far too talented to lose in back to back weeks.