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LSU at Florida Football Point Spread & Picks

Written by Jimmy Boyd

No. 4 LSU head to the swamp to take on No. 11 Florida in what figures to be one of the SEC’s best matchups of the season. While the Tigers are unbeaten and ranked higher, odds makers have made the home Gators 6-point favorites with the total set at 47.

Urban Meyer’s Gators improved to 4-1 on the season with a 38-7 win over Arkansas on the road last week. The win took the Gators to 2-1 in the conference and kept their pursuit of a conference title very much alive. The win was hopefully able to help Florida forget about its 31-30 heart breaker against Ole Miss on September 27th.

The Gators have shown much better offensive balance than they did a season ago and the fact that teams must be on the look out for more than just Tim Tebow makes them more dangerous. Florida has been getting a healthy amount of its yards on the ground, averaging 178.6 per game. Tebow is still a major running threat for this team, but defenses must also be able to stop Chris Rainey, Jeff Demps, and Percy Harvin who are all averaging 6.6 or more yards per rush. Rainey and Demps both rushed for more than 100 yards last week against the Razorbacks.

Tebow has been consistently good, completing 61.7 percent of his throws for 1,025 yards and eight touchdowns against only one interception. While other performers are getting more Heisman hype early on, a big game by Tebow this week likely puts him right back among the top contenders.

Percy Harvin has emerged as one of the nation’s most talented wideouts and Florida gets him the ball in a variety of ways and he has the ability to take it the distance at any moment.

The defensive side of the ball was an area Florida needed to improve heading into this season and the numbers reflect that it has, although giving up 31 points Ole Miss does not help its cause. The Gators are limiting opponents to 265 yards per game and holding them to only 11.4 points per contest.

Defensive end Jermaine Cunningham has been a big part of Florida’s success with 25 tackles and 3 sacks in the early going. Despite Florida dropping its last game in the swamp, Urban Meyer’s boys are always tough on their home field. If you like the Gators in this bounce back spot, bet Florida at -6 at Sportsbook.com and receive a 100% first win bonus.

The Tigers would love to hand the Gators a second straight loss in the swamp this week and to stay in contention for defending their national title. The Tigers should benefit from an off week to prepare.

While the Gators own the 28-23-3 advantage in the all-time series, LSU has won three of the last four meetings and four of the last six overall. So we don’t expect LSU to be lacking any confidence.

LSU is as balanced as they come on offense and it is a punishing running game which gives the Tigers a shot to pull off the upset this week. The team is racking up 206.5 rushing yards per game this season with a 5.8 yards per carry average.

Tailback Charles Scott is the SEC’s leading ball carrier, averaging 133.8 yards per game and has already racked up 535 for the season. If the Tigers are able to take the lead in the second half of this game, you can expect a steady dose of Scott to control the ball and milk the clock.

The QB spot was one of the bigger question marks on the LSU roster heading into the season, but both Jarrett Lee and Andrew Hatch have got the job done thus far. Lee has been the better passer with 643 yards and six touchdowns while Hatch has been the better runner with 101 yards on the ground. Both seem to complement each other well.

It is the LSU defense which really drives and motivates this team. This unit is allowing only 69 yards per game on the ground and a meager 2.4 yards per carry average.

The pass defense has not been bad, but this is the area where the Gators will likely try to take advantage as LSU has not been able to mount much of a pass rush. The Tigers have only six sacks through their first four games. If you think the Tigers have what it takes to win in the swamp, bet LSU at +6 at Sportsbook.com.

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