LSU fans were shocked by Tennessee’s comeback Monday night, but the mistakes leading up to the 30-27 defeat was what left coach Les Miles searching for answers.
“It appeared to me on film in the wee hours of Tuesday morning that it was just like our first game again,” Miles said. “We haven’t had a fumble exchange for forever, and we had two fumble exchanges. If we blocked better on one of the returns it would have been a touchdown. We gave them 71 yards in penalties. We gave them more yards [in penalties] than they had rushing. We had guys jumping offsides in the start of the game repeatedly. It just kind of took me by surprise.”
Players said the postgame speech was a lot like Miles’ demeanor throughout Monday night’s game – calm and encouraging.
“He just said, ‘Keep our heads up high,'” said junior safety Jessie Daniels. “He said ‘we need to regroup ourselves and come back and win all the rest of our games.'”
The NCAA excused the usually enforced rule that a team must have one day of rest a week, but Miles still kept the team off the practice field because of fatigue and cramps the day before. Monday was spent reviewing film.
“If you don’t get them a day to rest their things, some time to heal, it cannot be productive,” Miles said. “You can take a sore body into an injured one. Certainly, we talked about every penalty. We talked about those things that we can’t repeat. Again, I certainly didn’t expect it. ”
The team worked on getting back into a normal practice routine Wednesday in hopes that there would not be any more hurricanes or outside forces preventing a regular schedule for the remainder of the season.
“I like it better like this,” said Skyler Green. “It’s a little lighter practices. You’re mainly focusing on what you’re going to be doing in the game. Today was our tough day of practice. Now we are on our regular practice schedule.”
Media and fans have been talking, but Miles said he has avoided any media since the loss and only seeks opinions from “others in his football circle.” On the other hand, players said they did not have that luxury because they face their fans each day on campus.
“Most of the people I talk to was like ‘keep your head up high,'” Daniels said. “I never really been hearing anything like, ‘What’s up with the coaches’ and all this stuff. It’s nothing I’m going to pay attention to. Tennessee is behind us, we have to move on to Mississippi State.”
When asked about crossroads, Miles said he doesn’t know anything about the word. All Miles said was that he thinks the team will play well Saturday.
“I’m very anxious – and I know everybody else is – to get back out there,” Daniels said. “We are ready to prove to everybody the team that we are and regain our confidence. If we keep playing like we are with less mistakes, we are going to win a lot of games. I have no doubt in our defense and offense that we can win the rest of our games.”
Contact Tabby Soignier at [email protected]