LSU football vs. Southern best bets for Week 2 match-up

LSU football got off to a heartbreaking start to the season as it fell to 0-1 after being defeated by Florida State. The 24-23 thriller provided entertainment to those around the country, but the Tigers fans watching on were left crushed after their team showed so much heart in the fourth quarter. If Brian Kelly’s squad shows as much talent as it did in the last period of Sunday’s game throughout the rest of the year, it can be a legitimate Top 25 team.

As things stand though, none of those pieces have clicked just yet. This will take practice and time. Luckily for Kelly, his team has been given both right now. LSU is set to play Southern for the first time in the two programs’ rich histories on Saturday. The Baton Rouge flagships will square off at Tiger Stadium in what will likely be one of the biggest events of the year in Louisiana.

Ahead of kickoff, let’s look at some of the best bets to make for this Week 2 contest.

Best LSU football bets for Week 2 match-up against Southern

Unfortunately for bettors in the Boot, there aren’t many sportsbooks who are carrying odds for this match-up. Many of the heavy hitters—such as FanDuel—likely won’t post odds for this contest as the talent gap between the two programs is too great. It’s not often you are given a plethora of lines for games that feature an FBS host welcoming a local FCS program.

This means that this week’s ‘best bets’ piece will have far fewer bets than in coming weeks. The options for both sportsbooks and bets for this game are extremely limited. Luckily, we were able to find a site that does have odds for this clash: WynnBet.

Although WynnBet is one of the only sites that allows users to bet on LSU vs. Southern, its options are even more limited than one would think. There are just three types of bets you can place on this contest (the basics)—spread, moneyline and over/under.

Here are the odds via WynnBet:

Spread: LSU -47.5 (-110)
Moneyline: LSU (-50000)
O/U: 58.0 (-110/-10)

It must be said that there is absolutely no value on the moneyline, unless you plan on tempting fate and taking Southern to win at +2500. Therefore, we’ll be focusing on the spread instead.

LSU being a 47.5-point favorite in this contest seems absurd. Yes, Southern is a lesser opponent coming to Death Valley from the FCS. However, the Jaguars are coming off an 86-0 win and the Tigers didn’t look fantastic against Florida State.

History will tell us that the smart play here is to take Southern to cover the spread on Saturday. Aside from 2019—which saw LSU field the greatest team in history—the Tigers haven’t beaten a non-conference opponent by 48 points or more since Sam Houston and New Mexico State back in 2014. For one reason or another, LSU struggles to blow out significantly weaker opposition.

Furthermore, a quick glance back at those past non-conference games has shown us that even the Tigers’ weaker opposition finds the end zone at least a couple of times in Baton Rouge. The Jaguars have one of the FCS’ best offensive attacks, so expect them to score a couple of times on what’s likely to be a heavily rotated defense at one point or another. I think there will be a total of over 58 points scored between the crosstown foes this weekend.

If you are feeling bold and you’d like to parlay both of those plays (Southern +47.5 and over 58.0), you can lock in your bet right now on WynnBet at +264 odds. $10 wins you $26.44.