Two days after the first loss of the season, LSU football players began refocusing and preparing for Saturday’s contest against South Carolina.
Team members were disappointed in the outcome of the game against Florida, but most were optimistic about the remainder of the Tigers’ season.
Wideout Michael Clayton caught five passes for 60 yards in Saturday’s game and said he thought the Tigers should have done more and need to improve offensively.
“We know we didn’t perform to the best of our ability,” Clayton said. “That’s one of our main goals. At times I felt like we were pressing too hard and trying to make things happen.
“We were [flat]. It’s disappointing to us as players.”
After watching film, Clayton blamed mental errors and mistakes by the Tigers as a contributing factor to the letdown.
“It wasn’t like Florida actually beat us,” Clayton said. “We created our mistakes. We lost that game. We had a great opportunity to win, and if we would have performed the way we know we can play, we would have won the ball game.
“The most important thing is getting over it. Take it as a loss, it’s over with, let’s learn from it and move on.”
Refocusing for the South Carolina contest Saturday is the team’s main goal in practice this week, said tackle Rodney Reed.
“I think it’s pretty easy to put it behind you when you have a team like South Carolina on the road coming up,” Reed said. “If you don’t, then they’ll embarrass you.
“We’ve got to focus each week and work on the basic things that made us successful in the past. Hopefully, that will lead to future success for us.”
Cornerback Randall Gay, playing with a cast on his left arm, recorded four tackles in the game versus Florida. Gay said the Tigers must get back to work this week in order to make something happen against South Carolina.
Gay downplayed the notion that the bye week between the Mississippi State and Florida games caused the Tigers to come out flat Saturday.
“We were ready for a bye week,” Gay said. “Week after week, stuff happens and you get banged up. People like me were begging for a bye week.
“[And the bye week is] no excuse,” Gay continued. “It just happened and we’ve got to do better next time. Next time we have a bye week, we can’t come out flat. This game [against South Carolina] we can’t come out flat.”