LSU vs. Mississippi State prediction, pick, odds, spread: Tigers look to rebound against Bulldogs

No. 22 LSU returns home to face No. 16 Mississippi State after last week Jeff Lebby knows Lane Kiffin better than most. Lebby ran Kiffin's offense at Ole Miss in 2020 and 2021, and the Rebels' 2020 attack set an SEC record for total offense in conference play. Kiffin called him "a huge part of our success there" this week. Now Mississippi State's head coach, he leads the Bulldogs into a top-25 showdown with LSU on Saturday. "I don't like playing against him because they go so fast," Kiffin said this week. LSU (4-2, 1-2 SEC) is reeling after an overtime loss at Kentucky last week, and finds itself in a familiar place under previous coaches: two losses at the midpoint of the season.

It wasn't supposed to start this way for Kiffin, who took over a program with deep pockets and turned the roster over into one of the most talented in the country. A third conference loss in Kiffin's first season would leave almost no margin for November, with Alabama and Texas still coming to Baton Rouge. Mississippi State (4-1, 2-1) has already won two SEC games, exceeding the one Lebby collected in his first two seasons combined. Alabama rode into Starkville and won 56-23 two weeks ago, and Kamario Taylor, the sophomore quarterback who spent September in