College football is BACK. LSU and USC kick off their respective seasons in the 2024 Vegas Kickoff Classic at Allegiant Stadium this Sunday night. LSU comes into the matchup ranked #13 in the country and USC comes in ranked #23. Both teams have seen major changes to their programs this offseason, so let’s take a dive into some important things to note while watching this Week 1 Top 25 matchup.
Quarterback Changes on Both Sides
Both teams lost their starting quarterbacks from last season to the NFL as the #1 (Caleb Williams) and #2 (Jayden Daniels) picks overall in the 2024 NFL Draft. Both of these quarterbacks also won the last two Heisman trophy awards in 2023 and 2024.
LSU will replace Jayden Daniels with Garrett Nussmeier. The redshirt junior is entering his fourth season with the Tigers, but has not had much playing time sitting behind Jayden Daniels the past two seasons. Nussmeier has appeared in 18 games and has 1 career start, which was the 2024 ReliaQuest Bowl when he also won MVP of the game. Nussmeier is said to be ready for the opportunity to be the full time starter for the College-Football-Playoff-hungry LSU Tigers.
USC will be replacing Caleb Williams with redshirt junior Miller Moss. Moss has only seen action in 10 games in his USC career and has made 1 start. The one start came in the 2024 Holiday Bowl, when he set not only a USC bowl game record, but also a Holiday Bowl record by throwing 6 touchdown passes on his way to MVP of the game. This was also a record by a USC quarterback making their first start. Both of these quarterbacks have huge shoes to fill and it will be interesting to see if they both answer the call in primetime.
Receiver Spotlight
Both teams lost substantial talent at wide receiver this off season to the NFL Draft.
LSU lost their top 2 targets a season ago in Malik Nabers (#6 overall) and Brian Thomas Jr. (#23 overall). Both receivers together racked up over 2,700 receiving yards combined. This season, Kyren Lacy will return for the Tigers as the top target after having 558 receiving yards and 7 touchdowns a season ago. LSU is also returning junior Mason Taylor, who finished with 348 yards and 1 touchdown a season ago. Also expect Chris Hilton Jr. and transfers CJ Daniels and Zavion Thomas to be huge impact players in the Tigers passing game.
On the other side, USC has also lost some top talent at wide receiver, losing their top 2 receivers Brendan Rice and Tahj Washington to the NFL Draft. This season they’ll have sophomore Zachariah Branch returning, who had 320 yards and 2 touchdowns a season ago. They will also see receivers Makai Lemon, Kyron Hudson and UCLA transfer Kyle Ford competing for receptions in USC’s new look offense.
Defensive Coordinator Changes
LSU and USC both struggled tremendously last season on the defensive side of the ball. LSU was ranked 82nd and USC was ranked 121st in total team defense. Not good.
However, both teams fired their previous defensive coordinators. LSU hired Blake Baker as their defensive coordinator after serving as the defensive coordinator and safeties coach at Missouri last year. Baker helped lead Missouri to an 11-win season and a Top 10 national ranking in 2023.
USC hired D’Anton Lynn, who was the defensive coordinator at UCLA a season ago. At UCLA, he transformed the Bruin defense, elevating their defensive ranking from No. 87 in 2022 to finishing the 2023 regular season ranked No. 11 in the nation.
Betting Odds
For all you gamblers out there, this may be the most important part.
LSU opened at a -6.5 favorite, but has recently dropped to LSU -4. As of Friday, August 30 at 2:30pm, the moneyline odds on DraftKings are LSU -180 and USC +150. The over/under is currently set at 64.
With a lot of questions on the defensive side of the ball, and a lot of talent on both offenses, this could be an exciting game with a lot of explosive plays. The over might be a fun bet to place some money on.
