BATON ROUGE — LSU continued to prepare for Saturday’s Southeastern Conference championship game against second-ranked Tennessee with a two hour practice here Wednesday at the LSU Indoor Practice Facility.
The Tigers, ranked No. 20 in the nation, have won four straight games and enter Saturday’s contest with a 8-3 overall mark. Tennessee, winners of seven straight, is ranked No. 2 in the nation and stands at 10-1 overall.
The Tigers and the Vols meet at 7 p.m. CT on Saturday at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. The game will be televised to a national audience by CBS.
Earlier this year, Tennessee posted a 26-18 win over the Tigers in Knoxville in a game in which LSU led 7-6 at halftime.
“I’ve been really pleased with the teams effort this week,” LSU coach Nick Saban said. “We’ve had four straight football games that our players have prepared well for and been able to execute. We want to keep our focus and do what we have to do to beat Tennessee. I know their will be more distractions on this trip then there would normally be, so it will take some maturity on our players part to keep that focus.
“There is a lot at stake for both teams. I think both teams will be prepared to play Saturday. I hope both teams come in focused so the game is decided on execution and not a lack of execution.”
Saban said the Tigers will practice indoors on the turf again on Thursday followed by a walk through in the Georgia Dome on Friday afternoon.
“We practiced indoors on the turf today and we will go back indoors tomorrow,” Saban said. ” I think more than the turf, the players need to get use to playing inside. I don’t know what it is, but it’s just different. It’s drier inside, the humidity is different and that’s what has the affect on you.”
should lead a defense that will improve greatly after a down year.