A First Look at LSU, the SEC version of the Tigers.

[OUBeliever56A]

Here are my first thoughts about the Oklahoma and LSU game on Tuesday Night.

I thought I would look at the LSU record and numbers against the four SEC teams that they have played. The reason I wanted to do that was that they really have not played too many really good teams from what I see. they beat Utah twice 6-4 and 2-1. they beat Louisiana 4-1 and Michigan 2-0. They also lost to Louisiana 4-5. That is not too much to go on. I really have a hard time seeing why their RPI ranking is so high.

Back to my point. LSU is 6-6 in SEC play:

At South Carolina they won 9-1, lost 2-4 and won 5-1
At home, they lost to Tennessee three times by the scores of 0-5, 0-3, and 2-9.
At Ole Miss they lost 1-5, won 2-0 and 3-1.
At home they lost to Mizzou 6-8, won 3-1 and 9-1.

If I told you that of the four, only Tennessee and Ole Miss have Team ERA's under 2.15. Only Tennessee has a batting average over .303 BA. Outside of Tennessee the other three teams are not that good. In SEC play, Tennessee is 10-2, South Carolina i 4-8, Mizzou is 3-12 and Ole Miss is 2-9 as of Sunday night.

SC hits .286 BA, .400 OB%, .469 Slug% with a Team ERA of 3.30.
Tennessee hits .303 BA, .432 OB%, .511 Slug% with a Team ERA of 1.18 ERA.
Ole Miss hits .272 BA, .355 OB%, .407 Slug% with a Team ERA of 2.12. (Yes, that surprised me as well.)
Mizzou hit .273 BA, .382 OB%, .442 Slug% with a Team ERA of 3.02.

From that I would say. Tennessee is similar to Oklahoma in pitching, and not as good as Oklahoma by a good margin on offense. That tells me this. If Tennessee swept LSU in Baton Rouge by the total score of 17-3 in 3 games then the Sooners should win over the Bengal Tigers if they play their A or maybe their B+ game.

OU just played two teams that hit better or as well than LSU does in SEC play. Texas and Texas Tech (might be a bit suspect due to their schedule) was held to 6 runs in 6 games. With LSU scoring only 3.5 runs per game in the SEC, they should struggle against the best pitching staff in the country with a strong schedule.

LSU allowed 6 runs to SC who hits .286 with little power. LSU allowed 6 runs to Ole Miss who hits .272 with less power than SC. LSU allowed Mizzou to score 10 runs with stats a bit lower than SC. Against OU's .380 BA, .469 OB% and .692 Slug%, the Sooners should be able to handle the LSU pitching that has a 2.71 Team ERA in SEC play against those four teams.

As I have said, stats do not win any games. But they do tend to indicate how things should play out after 35-ish games.

I think it will be a fun atmosphere in Louisiana but I do not expect LSU to seriously challenge Oklahoma. I think the Sooners will win convincingly. But I remember going to Georgia in 2021 and we were all surprised in Game #1 of the DH. So nothing is guaranteed. Oklahoma always has to pitch well, catch well, hit well, and run the bases well to be successful. You stil have to play the game and play well, especially in a single game event.

Good luck to the Sooners on Tuesday!

Boomer Sooner!