Despite Hurricane Isaac's pounding of the South, including Louisiana, the LSU Tigers will kickoff their season as scheduled on Saturday when they take on the North Texas Mean Green. Without former-Heisman hopeful Tyrann Mathieu in the secondary and returning punts and with the departure of top players like Morris Claiborne, Michael Brockers and Reuben Randle, it's reasonable to believe that the Tigers will have an uphill climb to make it back to the National Championship.
An uphill climb does not face the team on Saturday, though, as they enter the game as mammoth favorites over the team that finished 4-4 in Sun Belt Conference play. In their third game of the 2011 season, North Texas took on the eventual National Champions, Alabama, and were pummeled in a 41-0 defeat. Most expect Saturday's game to yield a similar result.
Game time/date: 7 p.m. ET, Saturday
Location: Tiger Stadium, Baton Rouge, LA
TV Schedule/Streaming: ESPNU & ESPN3
Odds: LSU -42.5
Over/Under: 52
For more coverage of LSU's game against North Texas, check out the SB Nation Houston StoryStream as well as And The Valley Shook.