The Texas Bowl is set to take place after the New Year, on January 4th, 2022. This year’s game will be the 15th overall edition and the first one since the 2019 season. It will feature a team from the Southeastern Conference and the Big 12 Conference as the Louisiana State Tigers will meet the Kansas State Wildcats.
There are a lot of interesting storylines in play here, as LSU will be looking to finish the year off strong heading into a new era. While Kansas State will be looking for their first bowl victory in five years. Let’s take a peek at some of the storylines to watch for from each team before I share my pick for the best bet for this game.
What to Watch for From the LSU Tigers in the 2021 Texas Bowl
LSU has had a weird season as it was known that they would be parting ways with their head coach midway through the year, following the bowl game. They have already hired his replacement in former Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly, which is a move not many people saw coming.
However that is next season, as of right now the Tigers still have a game left to play. They come into their bowl game with a record of 6-6 on the year. As they are far removed from that dominating 2019 national championship team that ran through everyone on the way to a 15-0 record.
Now they will go through a rebuild next year, and this game may be very important for the future as young guys and current players will have a chance to show the new staff that they belong and can make an impact in the new era. The year started off rocky as they lost to UCLA at the Rose Bowl in early September. Then things picked up as they won their next three, but SEC play would prove to be their downfall as they went 3-5 inside the conference.
It is unknown who will be the starting quarterback for the Tigers in this game but as of right now it is expected to be Myles Brennan after Max Johnson entered his name into the transfer portal earlier this season.
What to Watch for From the Kansas State Wildcats in the 2021 Texas Bowl
The Kansas State Wildcats come into this game with a record of 7-5 on the year. The high expectations set for them came crashing down when starting quarterback Skylar Thompson went down with an injury in early September. Kansas State Wildcats never recovered as without Thompson they went 1-3, while with him they went 6-2. They will be looking to finish off the year strong with a win in the Texas Bowl over LSU.
With a win, Kansas State would clinch their first bowl win and 20th overall win under head coach Chris Kleiman, with a loss his job may be in danger for next season.
If they can get things figured out they will likely be one of the favorites in the brand new Big 12 in the coming years following the exit of Oklahoma and Texas. Kansas State is longing for the days of Bill Synder again, but with each passing year, it seems to be slipping farther and farther away. This game may be the last chance for Kleiman to show the school why he can be the guy to lead them back to the glory days.
LSU/KSU Series History
If you’re the type of person to bet off of trends, there isn’t much to go off of for this matchup, as these two teams have only met one time in their respective histories. The only meeting between the Kansas State Wildcats and Louisiana State Tigers came back in 1980 and the game ended with a shutout victory for LSU by a score of 21-0. It was a regular-season meeting between the two teams that took place at Death Valley in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Current Odds for the 2021 Texas Bowl
The lines are currently listed at Kansas State -2.5 (-106), LSU +2.5 (-114), LSU M/L (+108), Kansas State M/L (-132) while the over/under is set at 47.5 with (-110) odds for the over and (-114) for the under according to Fanduel Sportsbook. My best bet for this game is to take Kansas State with the points, as LSU’s roster looks likely to remain an absolute mess by the time the game comes around.
My Best Bet: Kansas State (-2.5) (-106)
