The Saints are an eleven-point underdog heading into Sunday night’s match-up with the defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers. So will Coach Sean Payton use the big point spread as extra motivation????
cut 19 (19) “…significant”
If the season ended today, the Saints would not make the playoffs. New Orleans is six and seven, but the team that occupies the final playoff spot in the NFC, Washington, also has a record fo six and seven.

Meanwhile, Tampa Bay is battling Green Bay and Arizona for the top spot in the NFC playoffs. The Cardinals dropped to 10-and-3 on the season after losing to the Rams 30-23 last night. Odell Beckham Junior had a TD catch for L-A.

The 9-and-0 LSU men’s basketball team has moved up six spots in the latest A-P Top 25 poll to number 19. They are up four spots in the coaches’ poll to number 20.

Sophomore forward Tari Eason was named SEC Player of the Week after scoring a career-high 23 points in the Tigers win over Georgia Tech on Saturday. LSU hosts Northwestern State tonight.

Also tonight, Louisiana Tech hosts L-S-U Shreveport, the Ragin Cajuns are at 14th ranked Houston, while ULM visits Stephen F Austin.

Last night, Nicholls beat Blue Mountain College 87 to 69 to improve to 4-and-0 at home. The Colonels are at Wisconsin on Wednesday.