Ohio vs. Louisiana College Football Week 3 Picks and Predictions

After barely squeaking by Nicholls State this past weekend, Louisiana is a 20-point favorite against Ohio according to the latest college football odds. While Ohio has looked embarrassing as well, is 20 too many points?

Ohio Bobcats vs. Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns

Thursday, September 16, 2021 - 08:00 PM EDT at Cajun Field

It’s been a disastrous start for the Ohio Bobcats in 2021. Now they’re expected to play their first-round game against a former Top-25 team in the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns.

Ohio lost to Syracuse, 29-9 and couldn’t score a touchdown against one of the worst ACC teams to start their season. Now, don’t get me wrong, Ohio was supposed to lose that game but they weren’t even competitive.

Then things got a little more tricky last weekend as Ohio lost to Duquesne, 28-26 to lose two straight "winnable" games at home.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWVJ6bHxNo0

To put things into perspective, Duquesne lost to TCU on September 4, 45-3. Then they went and beat Ohio, another FBS opponent. So, right now Ohio looks like a complete you-know-what show.

They’re scoring just 17.5 points per game and allowing 28.5 points per game through two weeks. The offense is averaging 326.5 yards per game while the defense has allowed 372.5 yards per game thanks to Syracuse running all over that Ohio defense in the first game of the season.

To be fair, Ohio’s offense has shown some promise behind Kurtis Rourke but the offensive line hasn’t given him pass protection in the first two games. With Rourke at quarterback and O’Shaan Allison at running back is a solid duo but nobody else has really stepped up to make plays for this offense.

https://twitter.com/OhioFootball/status/1436767830544846849?s=20

On defense, Ohio has looked solid in coverage, limiting teams to just 147 yards passing in their first two games, on average. However, the rushing defense is abysmal and the tackling can absolutely be better.

Louisiana, on the other hand, looks just as bad as Ohio. They’re 1-1 but escaped against Nicholls, 27-24 after losing to Texas 38-18. Texas lost to Arkansas pretty badly so now that loss looks much worse.

Quarterback play out of Levi Lewis can be better. The pass protection has worked well but everything else has been a disaster.

On defense, Louisiana has missed countless tackles and has been awful in coverage down the field. However, they’ll show off a pass rush that should get through against Ohio’s terrible pass protection.

https://twitter.com/RaginCajunsFB/status/1436864073816154112?s=20

The Pick

Both teams have had dreadful starts to the season. Louisiana salvaged their game against Nicholls State while Ohio couldn’t against Duquesne.

Louisiana’s pass rush should be very effective against Ohio and that should keep Rourke in check.

I will say that Ohio, as of now, has the better quarterback and running back in this game. They just don’t have help surrounding those two via the receivers and offensive line.

Ohio can shut the passing game down against Louisiana with their superior coverage play and in the first two games this season, the running game has not been good at all for Louisiana, averaging just 94.5 points per game on the ground.

I like Ohio to stick around in this game. The coverage should be able to make plays and the offense has the better quarterback and running back, point-blank. For my college football pick, give me Ohio +20 in this game.

NCAAF Pick: (visit our Sportsbook Review)

*The pick reflects the line at the moment the writer made the play, the odds at the beginning of this article show the live line movement. Since the lines might vary, don’t forget to refer back to our live odds.