LSU’s Mathieu dismissed from program

Published on Aug. 10 at 1:20 p.m. Eastern.

By Brian Edwards

Word travels fast these days. Right around high noon in Baton Rouge on Friday, the news began to leak out.

The Honey Badger is gone. For good.

LSU junior cornerback Tyrann Mathieu has been dismissed from the program for reportedly failing (another) drug test.

The Mad Hatter: “Permanent. He won’t be back.”

Man, you know they’re scrambling at Alabama St. What’s his uncle’s phone number?!?!

Mathieu was a first-team All-American last year and a finalist for the Heisman Trophy. He had a team-high 76 tackles, 7 1/2 of which went for losses, in addition to nine passes broken up and a pair of interceptions.

The Honey Badger also returned a pair of punts for touchdowns, including an electrifying score at the Ga. Dome that completely shifted the momentum in the Tigers’ win over Georgia to win the SEC. He also scored a defensive TD in a season-opening win over Oregon at Cowboys Stadium and another against Kentucky.

Mathieu did his thing with flair, inspiring his teammates while thrilling the LSU faithful. You could maybe call him a Poor Man’s Deion Sanders, and that’s no slight whatsoever.

But he’s gone now after a pair of spectacular seasons with the Tigers, who are no longer favored to win it all.

Les Miles stated at today’s presser that sophomore wide receiver Odell Beckham will now be the team’s punt returner.

Sportsbook.ag has adjusted LSU’s future odds to 7/1. As of 3:10 p.m. Eastern, the offshore website still had the Tigers’ season win total off the board. It had previously been 10 1/2 with a heavy juice on the ‘under’ (-220 range).

Bovada has adjusted LSU’s future number to 5/1 with USC the favorite at 3/1. The website has moved the win total to 10 ‘over’ (-145) with ‘under’ backers getting a plus-115 return.