Florida Gators at LSU Tigers Preview and Pick

Opening Line: Gators -8.5 / LSU +8.5
8 PM EST Saturday October 10, 2009 on CBS

by Marasoft.com Staff

In a HUGE SEC match up this Saturday evening the 4th ranked LSU Tigers host the top-ranked Florida Gators. The big question in this game is will Tim Tebow play? Tebow suffered a concussion in Florida's last win over Kentucky and even though he has been improving he has still not been cleared to play and there is a good chance he will not play in this game. The Gators are in 1st place in the SEC East and the Tigers are in 1st place in the SEC West and the winner of this game will be in great shape to play in the SEC Title game. This game has MAJOR BCS and National Championship implications.

Last week the Gators had the week off while the Tigers beat then No. 18 Georgia 20-13.

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The Gators are led by QB Tim Tebow (643 yds 6 TD 1 INT) and his main targets are Riley Cooper (15 rec 242 yds 2 TD) and Aaron Hernandez (15 rec 198 yds 2 TD). The Gators rushing attack is led by the RB duo of Jeffery Demps (304 yds 4 TD) and Chris Rainey (261 yds 2 TD) and QB Tebow (271 yds 5 TD). The Tigers are led by QB Jordan Jefferson (920 yds 7 TD 2 INT) and his main targets are Terrance Toliver (23 rec 343 yds 2 TD) and Brandon LaFell (23 rec 282 yds 5 TD). The Tigers rushing attack is led by the RB duo of Charles Scott (274 yds 2 TD) and Keiland Williams (187 yds 2 TD).

If Tebow can't go in this game John Brantley will get the start and while he does have 232 yards passing with 4 TD's he has only really played in garbage time when the Gators have the game wrapped up. He has yet to play any real meaningful time for Florida since he has been there. The Tigers rank a decent 40th in the nation on defense, but if Tebow does not play it gives them a much better chance to win. The Tigers are pretty balanced on defense against both the pass and the run. They key for the Tigers is stopping the run, as the Gators feature the best running offense in the nation averaging 307.5 yards per game.

LSU has to play good defense and they also have to move the chains against a Gators' D that ranks 1st in the nation only allowing an average of 221.75 total yards per game. Jefferson has to have a good game through the air and the Tigers have to be able to run the ball. If the Tigers can run the ball they will be able to control the clock and keep the awesome Gators' offense on the sidelines.

The key to this game is not Tebow, even though that is big, it is their D, as they only rank 99th in total yards, 82,d in passing yards, and 66th in rushing yards. The Tigers have to win a low scoring game, as they do not have the offense if this game is a high scoring one. Florida has beat the LSU in 4 of their last 5 meetings.

The Marasoft Pick: LSU +8.5