The LSU football team needs to eliminate mental errors this week to be successful against Arizona on Saturday, coach Nick Saban said Monday at his weekly press luncheon.
Saban said the Tigers need to concentrate on correcting mistakes instead of blaming them on the circumstances of the game. The Tigers dealt with rain and lightning against UL-Monroe in their 49-7 win, and they will have to overcome adversity in their first road game of the season Saban said.
“You figure up all the reasons that things should go right or all the reasons that things should go wrong and it doesn’t necessarily happen that way,” Saban said. “It happens the way you make it happen, and I think we better be ready to make it happen the right way by how we play.”
The Southeastern Conference and the Pacific-10 played two interconference games Saturday. The PAC-10 prevailed in both games as Oregon defeated Mississippi State 42-34 and Southern California defeated Auburn 23-0. LSU needs to realize membership in the SEC puts a bullseye on your team in interconference play Saban said.
“The PAC-10 obviously did pretty well against the SEC this past week and certainly our players need to be aware of that and know that our league is nationally known and when we go play places people are anxious to play us,” Saban said. “They want to prove something when it happens, just like last year at Virginia Tech. Those guys acted like they had won the national championship after beating us. It is like they had something to prove, like that the Big East could beat an SEC team.”
This week’s game at Arizona will show the maturity of the Tigers in a hostile road environment just like last year’s contest with Virginia Tech Saban said. LSU’s last nonconference road victory came in a 49-25 win over Tulane in the Superdome.
“At the time, it (the Virginia Tech game) was the experience that we needed as a team,” Saban said. “To see where we were and to find out we weren’t where we needed to be and that we had a lot of guys who weren’t ready to play against a good team on the road at that time. We’re going to find out some of those things in this game too.”
Saban said being able to play a game before going out on the road this year is an advantage. LSU played at Virginia Tech in its season opener last year in a 26-8 loss.
“It’s an advantage in two ways,” Saban said. “The longer you have to let your players recover in these kinds of conditions, they’re going to gradually get back to where they need to be, but it may not be in the first game. So, you may not be your absolute best in terms of how you’ve recovered from all that practice.”
Despite Arizona’s 4-8 record a year ago, Saban said the Wildcats are a good football team.
“I think this is a football team that is underrated,” Saban said. “Last year they scored a lot of points and were in a lot of football games.”
The Wildcats’ opponents averaged 25.5 points-per-game last season, but with a new defensive philosophy Saban said Arizona’s defense will be better.
“Last year’s scheme is totally different than this year’s scheme,” Saban said. “Mike Hankwitz is the (defensive) coordinator there now who was at Texas A&M for years. He is doing a much better job and putting them in position to make plays and be an effective defensive team.”
With cornerback Randall Gay out for at least two weeks with a broken arm, Saban said the Tigers will have to make some adjustments in the defensive backfield as well. Michael Clayton will be ready to play the position if necessary, but Adrian Mayes, Travis Daniels and Jessie Daniels will see time at cornerback too.
“Obviously, with Randall Gay out at a position we’re already thin in terms of experienced players,” Saban said. “Maybe there’s a greater probability (Clayton will) play in this game than the last game.”