| Allstate Sugar Bowl: Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs LSU Tigers |
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| Written by Benton Vale | |||||||
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Tuesday, 02 January 2007
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Bet on the Sugar Bowl at Bodog and receive Instant Cash Bonuses! LSU brings the SEC's top offense and defense into the Notre Dame game and comes into bowl season ranked No. 1 in the SEC in both scoring offense and scoring defense as well as being first in the league in total offense and total defense.With a 24-4 overall mark as LSU's starting quarterback, junior JaMarcus Russell has moved into sole possession of fourth place in school history for most victories by a signal caller. Russell passed for nearly 2,800 yards and 26 touchdowns and was picked off just seven times. Dwayne Bowe was his favorite target, with Russell finding him 60 times for 912 and 11 scores. Craig Davis and Early Doucet also caught over 50 passes for the Tigers. On the ground, six different Tigers rushed at least 45 times on the year, with Jacob Hester the busiest in a mixed backfield with 91 carries and six touchdowns. Get the latest college football point spreads here Notre Dame ranked near the Top 10 in scoring at 32.4 points per game and passing yards, where the strong-armed senior quarterback Brady Quinn threw for 3,278 yards (273.8 per game). He found wide-out Jeff Samardzija 70 times for 958 yards and 11 scores in 2006. On the other side, he hooked up for 15 scores, 64 catches and 885 yards with Rhema McKnight.Running back Darius Walker balanced the aerial show with 1,139 yards along the ground. But on defense, it was all middle-of-the-pack stats. When they needed to stop teams, they couldn’t. They played only three ranked teams all year and lost to two of them. And when it comes to bowl games, their recent history suggests they might wet the bed again. Last year, the favored Irish were clobbered 34-20 by Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl. A year earlier, it was Oregon State’s turn in the Insight Bowl. You have to go back to Jan. 1, 1994, when Notre Dame beat Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl to find a happy bowl experience. Bet on the Sugar Bowl at Bodog and receive Instant Cash Bonuses! The Tigers, favored by a -9 point chalk, covered in 8-of-10 games against the spread with 7-of-12 cashing for the OVER. LSU has also covered ATS in three of its last five games. The total for the Sugar Bowl game is currently set at 56. Notre Dame backers can’t be too happy only getting to cash-in on 4-of-12 games the Irish played. The Irish were a little more consistent on the total cashing for the OVER in 7-of-12 games.                        |
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| Last Updated ( Tuesday, 02 January 2007 ) | |||||||
LSU and Notre Dame will play for the first time since 1998 when the teams meet in the 2007 Allstate Sugar Bowl on Jan. 3 in New Orleans. LSU, ranked No. 4 in the nation as well as being No. 4 in the BCS standings, has won six straight games and stands at 10-2 overall. The Tigers will be making their 13th appearance in the Sugar Bowl. Notre Dame, ranked No. 11, also brings a 10-2 mark into the game. Kickoff for the contest is set for 7:25 p.m. from a sold out Louisiana Superdome. The game will be televised by FOX.