BATON ROUGE — LSU continued its preparations for Mississippi State with a two-hour practice here Wednesday at the LSU practice facility.
The Tigers enters Saturday’s contest coming off a 29-25 last-minute win over Kentucky last weekend. LSU is 3-2 overall and 2-1 in Southeastern Conference action. Mississippi State has dropped four straight, including a 21-9 decision to Troy State last Saturday, and stands at 1-4 overall and 0-3 in league play. Last year, the Tigers posted a 45-38 overtime win over the Bulldogs in Baton Rouge.
“We’ve had a couple of good practices and I have been pleased with the attitude of the players,” LSU coach Nick Saban said after practice on Wednesday. ” I think the players are upbeat and positive about trying to improve as a team. I think that was the focus of this week’s practices.
“No matter if you are a freshman just trying to get some playing time or a player who will advance their career in the future, your overall focus should be on improving as a player so that your overall performance will help the team.”
Saban said that sophomore running back Devery Henderson returned to practice on Tuesday and should play on Saturday. Henderson sat out the Kentucky game with an injured ankle, while offensive lineman Dwayne Pierce practiced for the first time on Wedensday since injuring his ankle in the Florida contest two weeks ago.
“Devery Henderson has practiced two days and didn’t seem to have any problems related to his injury,” Saban said. “Dwayne Pierce is day to day and not at 100 percent. Everyone else seems to be okay for Saturday’s game.”
The Tigers will practice again on Thursday followed by a walk-thru in Tiger Stadium on Friday before departing for Starkville on Friday afternoon.
Kickoff for Saturday’s contest is 8 p.m. and it will be televised to a national audience by ESPN2.