Arizona running back Michael Bell rushed for 119 of the Wildcats’ 217 yards on the ground in their 42-7 victory over Texas-El Paso last week, and LSU coach Nick Saban, at his Wednesday press conference, said he took notice of the Wildcats’ offensive domination.
“Arizona played really well in their first game and they were dominant,” Saban said. “They dominated the line of scrimmage and ran the ball effectively. Both of their backs looked like big-time players.”
The LSU defense needs to improve its rush defense Saban said.
“I don’t think we played the run extremely well last week,” Saban said. “It wasn’t a running team that we were playing, but we’ve got to show that we can stop the run, be physical on the edges, be a good tackling team and all that kind of stuff.”
Saban said Arizona (1-0) played extremely well on the offensive side of the ball last season but gave up too many big plays on defense. He said Arizona is trying to balance the offensive game after leaning heavily toward the passing game in 2002. The Wildcats had 217 yards rushing and 229 yards passing against UTEP last week.
“I know that he is a pro-style coach and it is indicative in the kind of offense that they run,” Saban said. “It’s well conceived. They use a lot of formations, run different pass patterns out of different formations, even the same pattern out of a different formation, so it makes it a little more difficult to prepare for.
“I would bet they scored more points than any team that won four games that I know of.”
One factor in the game will be the Tigers’ maturity level, Saban said. He said he never knows how college players will react to adversity.
“It’s hard for me to understand sometimes how young people think and react to circumstances,” Saban said. “You’ve got to kind of think back to when you were that age and try to think how you thought because I know they don’t think like I think.”
The players have to play up to their ability if they will be effective in Saturday’s game, Saban said. He said Michael Jordan was drafted third in the 1984 NBA draft and went on to be more famous than the other two players drafted ahead of him – Hakeem Olajuwon and Sam Bowie. He said Jordan’s ability to step up in big games made him better, and he looks for the Tigers (1-0) to step it up in a big game against a Pacific-10 team.
“(Jordan) obviously elevated his game better than they did, and that’s the one thing you don’t know about any player who has talent,” Saban said. “Is he going to be able to wrap it up to the next level to be able to compete and go through what it takes to be a mature competitor at the next level? We have a tough time figuring that out sometimes.”
LSU teams under Nick Saban have a 6-7 road record. Saban said the Arizona game will be a sign of how well the team will play on the road this season.
“It’s going to be a test for us going on the road for the first time,” Saban said. “Being able to overcome all the distractions you can have when you make a road trip, especially the first one, and it will certainly show us something about the maturity of our team.”