Louisiana Tech vs. Missouri Odds, Picks & Predictions: Ride With the Tigers

The first night of college football brings us some interesting matchups, with one being this clash between the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs and the Missouri Tigers.

This will be a home game for Missouri, with the game being played on Thursday, September 1st at 6 p.m. ET.

Louisiana Tech vs. Missouri Betting Odds

The Tigers are now heading into year three with Eliah Drinkwitz as the head coach, but with nothing except mediocrity to show for it. Missouri beats the teams they should beat, but can’t get over the hump and defeat the good teams.

This is evidenced by the fact that Missouri has a 11-12 overall the past two seasons combined. Heading into the 2022 season, they will have a new starting quarterback, and are on their third defensive coordinator in as many seasons.

Missouri will choose between a couple different options, including four-star prospect true-freshman Sam Horn, who was the eighth-ranked QB in the class of 2022. It is unclear whether Horn will get the start in 2022, but he is clearly the most talented of the bunch.

If Missouri can figure out the QB, they have a ton of talent on offense to surround whoever ends up starting. Their already talented offensive line returns four starters, including two studs at both tackle spots in Javon Foster and Hyrin White.

At receiver, they return electric senior Tauskie Dove and a solid 2022 recruiting class that features one five-star prospect and a couple other former blue-chip prospects from previous years.

They have the talent on offense, it just all depends on who wins the starting quarterback job and how well they perform.

Defensively, as mentioned earlier the Tigers are on their third defensive coordinator in three years. New DC Blake Baker will look to improve upon a unit that finished last year 113th in scoring defense.

With that said, there are some talented players on this Tiger defense. At defensive end, they return both starters from last year who combined for 9.5 sacks, with some exciting new additions in the form of one transfer and some recruits.

They are also set at safety, where they again return both starters from last year, as well as their top slot option.

Outside of these two positions is where the Missouri defense faces some question marks, though. The top three defensive tackles from last years squad are no longer there, along with their top two cornerbacks.

Overall, it is likely the Missouri will have another middling season in the SEC, unless one of their three options at QB pops, which is unlikely.

With that said, they still clearly have the talent edge over their opponent in this one, Louisiana Tech.

The Bulldogs are in the midst of a rebuild, featuring a new head coach in Sonny Cumbie who comes over from Texas Tech. He is inheriting a squad that went 3-9 last year, and 2-6 in their conference.

Cumbie does have visions for a bright future at Louisiana Tech, but it won’t be in 2022. They will have a new option at quarterback, with the QB competition featuring two transfers.

Parker McNiel, who started his career at Troy before transferring to Texas Tech last year, a year in which he spent as the backup, will be competing against Matthew Downing, another two-time transfer who has previously been at Georgia and TCU.

McNiel most likely has the edge, since he was at Texas Tech last year when Cumbie was there. So, they have some familiarity. Outside of QB they do have a solid offensive line and receivers, but it all depends on the QB.

Overall, Cumbies offense relies on precision and perfect timing, so growing pains are to be expected in year one.

Defensively, it is going to take some time before the Bulldogs defense can even hope to be average. They ended last year 106th in total defense and 114th in scoring defense.

So, in what I’m sure doesn’t come as a surprise, we will be backing Missouri in this spot. As shown above, the OddsJam Line prices this spread at -20.5, but thanks to line shopping on the OddsJam NCAAF Odds page, I was able to get Missouri at -19.5.

Beating the closing line by a full point is extremely valuable in the long run when betting on college football.

Louisiana Tech vs. Missouri Betting Pick: Missouri -19.5 | -110 at Caesars