By Chris Macaluso
LSUsports.net
LSU head football coach Nick Saban said his team is still trying to recover from last Saturday’s 13-10 homecoming defeat to Conference USA opponent UAB.
But rather than dwell on all the negatives from Saturday’s upset loss, Saban chose to focus on the positive aspects when he addressed the media Monday.
“Even though we are disappointed by the results that we had in the last game, we are certainly not discouraged about where we are trying to head in the future,” he said. “I think there were some good things in the game.”
One of the “good” things Saban referred to was special teams play, in which Tiger return-man Dominick Davis had 153 yards combined between kick-off and punt returns. Saban was also pleased with the play of his defense, which surrendered just 178 yards of total offense Saturday night to the UAB option offense.
“The defense did a great job,” he said. “We did a pretty good job of executing and being disciplined about how we wanted to go about the plan and I thought we made some improvement in that area.”
Saban said he is most concerned with the way the Tiger offense played Saturday when it turned the ball over six times while rushing for just 129 yards. Also on Saban’s mind was his team’s inability to score points. LSU had the ball inside the UAB 20-yard line three times in the second half, but scored just one touchdown.
“We had a lot of lack of execution and inconsistency on Saturday,” he said. “I think it comes down to believing and trusting in the system of what they(the players) are supposed to do and believing and trusting in each other.”
That belief and trust must be rebuilt quickly, as the Tigers head into what is undoubtedly their toughest two-game stretch of the season. This week, LSU plays host to the Tennessee Volunteers, who are bringing their No. 11 national ranking and fifth- best rushing defense in the country into Baton Rouge. The Vols are surrendering just 47.7 yards per game on the ground.
The next week, the Tigers must travel to Gainesville to challenge No.3 Florida.
The Tennessee offensive threat is nearly as great as its defense, as the Vols rank in the top 20 nationally in both scoring and rushing offense. Leading the way for the Volunteer ground-game is senior tailback Travis Henry, who is averaging 118 yards per game, good for second place in the conference.
“Tennessee is an awfully good football team, I’d say that they are one of the top-dozen teams in the country when ranked relative to the way their players play and their coaches coach,” Saban said.
Tennessee enters Saturday’s showdown with a 2-1 record after last week’s 70-3 rout of University of Louisiana-Monroe. The Vols lone loss of the year came at the hands of their arch rival Florida Gators 27-23. The loss to the Gators came despite an outstanding 175-yard rushing performance by Henry.
The LSU-Tennessee series dates back to 1925 and is the first meeting between the two squads since a 42-20 win by the Vols in Knoxville in 1993. Tennessee leads the overall series 18-3-3. According to Saban, adding a fourth win to the series total will be difficult, but possible if his players can compete to the best of their abilities.
“We are going to have to show some maturity, execute and show some poise in the heat of battle,” Saban said. ” We are going to make the improvements that we need to compete in this game.”