LSU Tigers
Head Coach:  Les Miles
2013-14 Record:  10-3, 5-3 Southeastern Conference
2013-14 Bowl Result:  21-14 win over Iowa in Outback Bowl
Odds to Win National Championship:  +2142

Returning Starters

Offense:  8, Defense:  6

Offense

The Tigers return six starters on offense, including four on the offensive line from a unit that put together one of the most productive seasons in school history in 2013.

Under first year coordinator Cam Cameron, LSU averaged 35.8 points and racked up 453.3 total yards—becoming the first team in Southeastern Conference history to featur a 3,000-yard passer, two 1,000-yard receivers and a 1,000-yard rusher.

Miles had seven players from this side of the ball picked in the 2014 NFL Draft—so it’s definitely a bit of a rebuilding year and something to consider when looking over the college football odds page.

Freshmen skill players will dominate the action, including quarterback Brandon Harris, running back Leonard Fournette and wide receivers Malachi Dupre and Trey Quinn, will be counted on to contribute.

Senior offensive tackle La’el Collins returns as one of the top linemen in football, considering he has started 25 of the team’s last 26 games.

Defense

Coordinator John Chavis returns for a sixth season—seeing his unit rank among the top 12 nationally in both yards and points allowed three times in that span.

The Tigers will be led by a couple of talented defensive ends in junior Danielle Hunter and senior Jermauria Rasco—two of seven starters that return on this side of the ball.

LSU is extremely excited about the opportunity to potentially have the best set of cornerbacks in the SEC in Tre’Davious White and Rashard Robinson.

Schedule

College football handicappers will certainly be excited about the Tigers taking on the Wisconsin Badgers in the season opener, but it’s important to point out that they’ve captured their last three lid lifters in a neutral setting by an average of 10 points.

LSU has the ability to land one of four spots in the inaugural college football playoff, but it’ll likely need to sweep a pair of road games against Auburn and Florida to open up the month of October.

The program has a pair of advantageous byes at the end of the season—before hosting Alabama and then finishing out its season at Texas A&M.

Outlook

Miles doesn’t necessarily need to be dynamic offensively, which will cause Cameron to be more conservative in his play calling after having a veteran group on offense a season ago—led by NFL draftee Zach Mettenberger.

LSU has a great chance of going undefeated at Tiger Stadium this season—despite the fact that’ll likely be a home underdog against Alabama—with the venue’s capacity going over 100,000 for the first time this season.

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