By 10:30 Sunday night, Syracuse head coach Dino Babers had already watched the Louisiana State-Mississippi State game three times. He first watched the Tigers’ loss on Saturday at 4:30 a.m. Sunday, studying how LSU fell to the Bulldogs, 37-7.

It speaks to the task Syracuse faces: upsetting No. 25 Louisiana State on the road at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Syracuse opens as 23.5-point underdogs. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. and the game will air on ESPN2 from “Death Valley,” where 97,289 fans watched LSU in its home opener just over a week ago.

“Great home field advantage,” Babers said. “I’ve heard coaches talk about it and how difficult it is to win there. I’m looking forward to our opportunity to go try.”

LSU has won 48 consecutive games over nonconference opponents at home in Tiger Stadium. Babers told The Daily Orange last week that Tiger Stadium is on his bucket list of venues at which to coach. He said the primetime matchup will have “a huge impact on recruiting … them in white, to have us in orange and blue, that’s what college football is all about.”

Syracuse is 1-2 all-time against the Tigers, its lone win coming at the 1989 Hall of Fame Bowl in Tampa, a 23-10 victory. Syracuse lost the teams’ first meeting, in New Orleans, 10-13 in 1964 and lost the teams’ last meeting, 2015, 34-24 at the Dome.

Former Syracuse coach Ed Orgeron is in his first full season as LSU head coach. He coached at SU from 1995-97, helping SU go 27-10 over that time. Now, his best player is junior running back Derrius Guice, whom a college football coach told Sports Illustrated “might be a better back than Leonard Fournette,” because he’s “harder to tackle because he runs with so much juice guys can’t corral him.”

“He’s a very, very talented back,” Babers said Monday. “I think he’s different from the starter last year. I think he’s more complete. I think he can catch passes, I think he can run, and he’s tough between the tackles. He’s one of those guys that gets six, eight, 10, then he goes for 20, then he goes for 40. He’s going to be very difficult to stop.”

In the the SU-LSU meeting two Septembers ago at the Carrier Dome, walk-on Zack Mahoney played QB against the No. 8 Tigers. Fournette, a First Team All-SEC member and the No. 4 overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft, scored two touchdowns and ran for 244 yards.

Former SU punter Riley Dixon leaped a man, earning a spot on ESPN’s Top 10 plays, and while Syracuse stayed within striking distance throughout the game, SU could not upset LSU. The Orange lost its next seven games of the season.

Additional note from Monday’s press conference:

• Babers provided no update on senior receiver Ervin Philips, who exited SU’s win over Central Michigan on Saturday with an apparent injury to his knee. He was listed as a starter on the Week 4 depth chart.

Published on September 18, 2017 at 1:35 pm

Contact Matthew: mguti100@syr.edu | @MatthewGut21