After a big victory against conference rival Auburn, the LSU football team shifts its focus to an upset-minded Louisiana Tech team that gave the ninth-ranked Michigan State Spartans the only blemish on their record.
At his weekly luncheon Monday, LSU coach Nick Saban commented on the “big win, good win” against Auburn and said he was pleased with the “take care of business” attitude LSU entered the game with.
Saban said the Tigers (7-1) need to be wary of the Bulldogs (4-4), who have an upset on their minds.
“Tech has made a living of beating major Division I teams,” Saban said. “They’re a team that scores a lot of points. Their quarterback is very effective. They throw for over 300 yards a game. But they also have a runner who is approaching 900 yards rushing and didn’t even play all the time early in the season.”
The 7 p.m. Homecoming game in Tiger Stadium on Saturday is sold out but can be viewed inside the state on Tigervision – a pay-per-view venue – for $34.50. The game can be ordered on ESPN Gameplan for fans who live outside Louisiana.
“Some teams can rain on your Homecoming,” Saban said. “Some teams can rain on your season. And obviously this would rain on our season if we didn’t get ready to play a good football team this week.”
Louisiana Tech has upset Alabama twice in the past six years and upended Oklahoma State in the first game of the 2002 season.
“They’re a very challenging team to play relative to their ability to score points,” Saban said. “I know some people will make sure that they create this game as not being a very important game for us, but to us on our team, this is a very important game.”
Saban said he has noticed differences in the atmospheres of the “Tiger Walk” that seem to have an effect on the game. The Tiger Walk is when the LSU football unloads from the buses and walks down Victory Hill to Tiger Stadium two hours before kickoff as thousands of fans line the street cheering.
“I probably shouldn’t talk about this,” Saban said. “I walk down the street when we get off the bus before the game with the team – I’m not being critical, I don’t want anybody to think this is criticism – but we play Georgia, there’s [an] electric [atmosphere] in the air. We play Auburn, there’s [an] electric [atmosphere] in the air. We play Florida, there isn’t. Maybe it’s the same with the players. I don’t know, maybe I need to get my electric thermometer out I guess and find out.”
Saban said he wants to instill a consistency in the team in order to avoid a type of letdown the Tigers experienced against Florida.
“We’ve had two really good weeks of practice in the last two games,” Saban said. “And hopefully we learned a lesson from our experience [against Florida] about how to handle success, and how we need to do things with a certain amount of readiness and intensity and focus to be a productive, effective, efficient, consistent team.
“Do I know if they learned that lesson or not? No. Do I know that my kids have learned every lesson I’ve tried to teach them at home? No. Do they disappoint me at times? Yes. On both accounts.”
Injury Report
Offensive guard Stephen Peterman, linebacker Dave Peterson and tight end Demetri Robinson each were held out of practice Monday.
Running back Joseph Addai returned to the practice field Monday wearing a red shirt. Saban said Addai will mostly work on drills and his status for Saturday is doubtful.
Running back Shyrone Carey will practice at full speed after sitting out the Tigers’ past three games. Saban said he might be ready to play Saturday at running back, but Skyler Green will retain his services as punt returner.
Happy Birthday Saban
Saban turns 52-years-old on Halloween. To celebrate his birthday, members of Sports Information and the Baton Rouge media pitched in to buy Saban a cookie cake.