BATON ROUGE, La. — Despite Idaho coach Robb Akey’s enthusiasm about the chance to take his team into LSU’s Tiger Stadium, he isn’t under any illusions about how tough it could get on the field.

The moment he started breaking down game video of the third-ranked Tigers (2-0) earlier this week, he knew what he and the Vandals (0-2) would be in for on Saturday night.

“Watching LSU, those guys fly around. They’re big. They’re fast. They’re strong. And I went home and slept like a baby — I woke up every hour and I cried,” Akey said, grinning and then apologizing if he offended any babies. “They’re damn good. But what an opportunity and what a great venue that we’re going to play in.”

LSU is a six-touchdown favorite against Idaho as the Tigers, winners of 19 straight at home, seek an NCAA FBS record 40th consecutive regular season nonconference victory.

Idaho still has its entire Western Athletic Conference schedule ahead, and sees this weekend’s game as an opportunity to improve on a performance against Bowling Green last week that showed promise despite a 21-13 loss.

“It will be a hell of an experience for our players,” Akey said. “We have nothing to lose. We’re going to go pin our ears back and go down there and get after it. If we don’t win the football game then we made everybody happy because they all told us we couldn’t. Should we play our tails off and make some things happen and you get that opportunity, then we could be the favorite football team in America — with maybe the exception of the state of Louisiana.”

KEY MATCHUP

Idaho QB Dominique Blackman, a junior college transfer who completed 30-of-37 passes (81 percent) for 352 yards and a TD in his Vandals debut last week, against an LSU defense allowing only 44 percent passing and 150 yards a game through the air.