LSU Football: Ranking Tigers’ 2020 opponents by toughness

The Rice Owls have not qualified for a bowl game since 2014 and will likely be massive underdogs when they take on the defending champion LSU Tigers in a neutral site battle at NRG Stadium in Houston.

The Tigers and Owls last matched up in 2018, where LSU rolled to a 42-10 win led by a 307 passing yard and two touchdown pass performance from Joe Burrow.

In 2020, there isn’t much hope for Rice to end their bowl-less streak and for LSU, this game will likely be one that’s more of a warmup for SEC play than anything else.

Nicholls State is an FCS program but one of the better one the country has to offer. Nicholls finished the 2019 season 9-5 and went 7-2 in conference play to finish atop the Southland Conference.

Just two seasons ago, the Colonels defeated an FBS opponent when they defeated the Kansas Jayhawks in Lawerence and have been known to give heavy favorites a fight.

While the Tigers will likely roll to a victory, the Colonels won’t lay down and they will likely provide a tougher challenge than a Rice program that many are now forgetting even exists.