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For the first time since 2004, someone other than Leslie Edwin Miles will patrol the sidelines for LSU as head coach. It’s Coach O’s show for now in Baton Rouge and Ed Orgeron will lead LSU against Barry Odom’s Missouri squad Saturday. If you missed any of the fireworks this week from the Bayou, we’ve got you covered here. As to who will be the long-term answer for LSU, we’re not totally sure yet. but we do have a handy explainer as to who we think the likely candidates are.
For Mizzou, things have actually started out pretty optimistically on offense. After only scoring 11 in the season-opening loss to West Virginia, the team opened up a can on Eastern Michigan and Delaware State, scoring a combined 140 points. It doesn’t matter the opponent — Mizzou only scored over 30 points twice last season. This is progress.
How to watch, stream and listen
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network. The broadcasters are Brent Musburger, Jesse Palmer, and Kaylee Hartung.
Online streaming: WatchESPN
Spread: LSU enters the game as a 13-point favorite.
Make friends: Get to SB Nation's team blog chats for this game at And The Valley Shook (for LSU fans) and Rock M Nation (for Mizzou fans).
Three big things to know
1. LSU really isn't going to change what it does on offense despite also firing offensive coordinator Cam Cameron. First and foremost: that would be a really hard thing to do midseason. You can't just install an entirely new offense with new schemes, terminology, and packages in six days, or at all really once the season gets going. The LSU you've seen under Miles wasn't much different than the one you're likely to see under Orgeron, at least for the rest of this sason.
2. Leonard Fournette's got to get going for LSU. Not that Fournette hasn't been any good at all this year, but he hasn't been the dominant version of himself that lots of us expected to see. Mizzou does a decent job against the run normally, so this'll be a challenge. But Fournette is good enough to turn in a big day against anybody, and there's no reason to think Mizzou is totally safe going up against him.
3. Mizzou has been otherworldly at protecting QB Drew Lock. Lock's only been sacked once this season in four games. LSU has an athletic front that could get after Lock, though. LSU averages a strong 3.5 sacks per game, making itself arguably the hardest test the Mizzou line has faced to date.