BATON ROUGE — LSU’s 11th-ranked football team continued to prepare for Saturday’s contest against Western Illinois with a two-hour practice session here Wednesday at the Charles McClendon Practice Facility.
The Tigers will practice again on Thursday followed by a walk-thru in Tiger Stadium on Friday afternoon. Kickoff between the Tigers and Western Illinois is set for 7 p.m. in Tiger Stadium on Saturday. LSU enters the contest with a 2-0 mark after its 59-13 win over Arizona last week. Western Illinois will carry an identical 2-0 record into Saturday’s contest after a 34-12 road win over IA foe Eastern Michigan last Thursday.
“We have had a good week of practice,” LSU coach Nick Saban said following Wednesday’s workout. ” I think the offense practiced pretty well yesterday and we did a little bit better on defense today. It’s been a little bit tougher preparation for us on defense this week because they stay in regular (defense) all the time, which is a very conventional-type football. They do a great job in execution, but the difference is that we do not play against that all the time.
“We play against three wide outs, or four wide outs and spend fifty percent of our time practicing against that stuff, so it has been a little bit more difficult preparation for our players this week.”
Saturday’s contest will feature one of the nation’s top scoring teams in LSU going against a defense that has yet to allow a touchdown this season. In two games, the Tigers have scored 108 points, while the Leathernecks, who are ranked No. 1 in the nation in the I-AA poll, have allowed only five field goals over their first two games.
The 108 points for the Tigers is the most by an LSU team over the first two games of a season since the 1930 team opened by scoring 147 in its first two games.
“I think offensively if we can continue to improve and execute we can do well, but they have a team that has not been scored on,” Saban said. “Hopefully we will be able to keep getting the ball to our skill guys and let them make plays in space and do a good job from that standpoint.”
LSU wide receiver Michael Clayton currently leads the SEC and ranks among the national leaders with 12 receptions for 261 yards. He’s also scored three touchdowns, all coming on receptions of 40 yards or better.
The Leatherneck offense features one of the top quarterbacks in I-AA in Russ Michna. Michna is in his second year as starter for Western Illinois and he’s led the Leathernecks to a 13-2 mark as their starter.
“They have a very good quarterback who has thrown for a lot of yards and it is going to be a real challenge for us defensively to contain him,” Saban said of Michna. “There is no question he is the best quarterback we have played against so far this season.”
Saban said the Tigers will be without the services of three players on Saturday night as offensive guard Terrell McGill (bruised kidney), cornerback Randall Gay (broken arm), and defensive end Kirston Pittman (knee) will all miss the contest.