Week 12 College Football Betting Odds: Florida At LSU

The 24th-ranked LSU Tigers will look to take down the Florida Gators when the two longtime rivals square off in a Week 12 SEC showdown that I believe is offering a ton of value for one team in particular. With both teams rebounding from losses in Week 10 to beat their respective opponents this past weekend, let’s find out who’s going to bring home the bacon.

A Closer Look At The Week 12 College Football Betting Odds: Gators At Tigers

When: 1:00 PM ET, Saturday, November 19, 2016 Where: Tiger Stadium, Baton Rouge, Louisiana TV: SEC Network Live Stream: NCAA Live Odds: LSU -14    

Why Bet Florida

Florida got past scrappy South Carolina 20-7 as 10.5-point favorites last weekend as quarterback Austin Appleby threw two touchdown passes and the Gators got a career-high 134 rushing yards from running back Jordan Scarlett. Florida is averaging 26.2 points per game this season to rank 82nd nationally in scoring but will be without young quarterback Luke Del Rio, giving Appleby his second straight start. The good news is that Florida’s backup quarterback has completed 65.6 percent of his passes with five touchdowns and two interceptions. Scarlett is Florida’s leading ball-carries with 617 yards and a half-dozen touchdowns while wide receiver Antonio Callaway has hauled in a team-high 35 passes. Defense is where the Florida Gators have really excelled this season as they limit the opposition to just 13.3 points per game to rank fifth nationally.

Why Bet LSU

LSU man-handled Arkansas in its convincing 38-10 blowout on Saturday as running back Derrius Grice rushed for a career-high 252 yards and fellow back Leonard Fournette added three scores. The Tigers are averaging 27.4 points per game to rank 74th nationally in scoring as quarterback Danny Etling has completed 58.8 percent of his passes for seven touchdowns and four interceptions since taking over as the starter. Grice leads LSU in rushing with 881 yards and nine touchdowns while Leonard Fournette has added 803 rushing yards and seven touchdowns. Wide receivers Malachi Dupre and Travin Dural are tied for the team lead in catches with 28. Like their SEC rivals in this Week 12 pairing, LSU has been stupendous defensively this season in limiting their opponents to just 13.8 points per game to rank sixth nationally.

Expert Prediction and Pick

While LSU is the only team with a national ranking in this affair, I’m going to urge you to back Florida to cover the college football betting line with room to spare. The Gators have an elite defense that should be able to keep LSU’s now, dual-threat rushing attack mostly in check. Not only that, but statistically, less than one point separates these two SEC foes with LSU averaging 1.2 points per game more than Florida, but the Gators giving up just over a half-point fewer points per game defensively. LSU is 4-1 ATS in their last five games, but Florida is a robust 10-4 ATS in their last 14 road games and 8-3 ATS in their last 11 road games against a team with a winning home record. LSU will win this home contest to improve their chances of reaching a New Year’s Bowl game, but the Gators will cover the spread in a matchup that looks like classic field goal matchup to me.

Pick: Florida +14 Points