Consistency is the key this week as the LSU football team prepares for its matchup with Idaho, LSU coach Les Miles said at his weekly press luncheon Monday.
Miles said the three things his team needed to accomplish Saturday were to keep up the offensive balance, defensive pressure and special teams performance from its dominating performance. The Tigers registered 242 yards on the ground and 195 in the air against the Huskies, a ratio much more than that of the run-heavy statistics from the season opener against North Texas. Miles said those numbers will be even closer together once they address the numerous drops that bogged down junior quarterback Zach Mettenberger’s performance against the Huskies.
“We’re going to use [Mettenberger] more,” Miles said. “We’re going to throw the football down the field. We’re going to throw it more efficiently, and when we eliminate those drops, it’ll happen pretty effortlessly.”
The LSU defensive line was also improved from week one, keeping lauded Husky quarterback Keith Price on the run all game and sacking him four times.
“We want to make every offense single-faceted,” Miles said. “We want them to go to the throw for their answers then we’ll allow ourselves a pass rush. I thought the defensive line was looking forward to getting in the backfield on that evening.”
Much of the backfield chaos was caused by junior defensive end Sam Montgomery, who registered one sack, 1.5 tackles for loss and three quarterback hurries in his first start of the season. Montgomery was named co-Southeastern Conference Defensive Lineman of the Week on Monday for the performance.
Freshman cornerback Jalen Mills was also honored, as the conference named him Freshman of the Week for his seven tackles and first career interception. Miles said people have to wait to see how competitive nature translates from high school to college football but it happened right away for Mills.
“He’s playing hard, aggressive,” Miles said. “Making mistakes, but improving every day. That is very visible. Everyone can see it.”
Miles said he was certain that Louisiana-Monroe’s victory over fellow SEC West competitor Arkansas last weekend would be mentioned in this week’s meetings as a reminder to not take a game off. It hasn’t been a problem for the Tigers, as they tied the record at 39 consecutive wins over non-conference opponents with their trouncing of Washington.
“I think the thing that’s allowed this team over time to do well is to not take anybody lightly and to recognize that it’s about how we take the field and what we hope to get accomplished,” Miles said.
Junior defensive end Barkevious Mingo was seen wearing a boot on campus Monday, but Miles said it was preventative and he expects Mingo to play today. Miles also said he doesn’t know the length of time junior linebacker Tahj Jones’ will be out of his position with the team following an appeal of an academic eligibility issue.
