BATON ROUGE — LSU’s week-long string of good practice sessions continued on Wednesday as the Tigers continued to prepare for Saturday’s game against Alabama with a two hour workout here at the Charles McClendon Practice Facility.
The Tigers will practice again on Thursday followed by a walk-thru in Tiger Stadium on Friday afternoon before departing for Tuscaloosa. Kickoff for Saturday’s contest is set for 6:45 p.m. in Bryant-Denny Stadium. The game will be televised by ESPN.
The third-ranked Tigers enter the contest with an 8-1 overall mark and a 4-1 Southeastern Conference record. Alabama, which is not eligible for the SEC title this year, stands at 4-6 overall and 2-4 in league play. Last year, Alabama posted a 31-0 win over the Tigers in Baton Rouge.
“We practiced good today and everybody worked hard,” LSU coach Nick Saban said after Wednesday’s workout. “The team has had a pretty good attitude about it and we have another day to get ready. I have been pleased with the way that we have practiced all week. We have practiced really well just about every day since the Florida game and you would like to think that would help you play well in the game.”
Against Alabama, the Tigers will face a team that possesses that top rusher in the Southeastern Conference in Shaud Williams, who leads the league with 1,140 yards and 12 touchdowns on 233 carries.
“They have a good front seven on defense and they are very aggressive in the secondary and are one of the most physical teams that we have played,” Saban said of the Crimson Tide. “They have run the ball effectively on everybody that they have played this year and they make some plays in the passing game.”
Of Alabama’s six losses, one has come to Oklahoma by only seven points and two were overtime losses to Arkansas and Tennessee. Alabama’s game with the Vols went five overtimes with the Tide losing, 51-43.
The Tigers will also have their full compliment of running backs back for the Alabama game as junior Shyrone Carey will return to action for the first time since the Mississippi State contest. Carey will join true freshmen Justin Vincent and Alley Broussard along with sophomore Joseph Addai in the backfield for the Tigers.
“I think we have four guys that are going to play a significant role in this game” Saban said of the running backs. “I think Shyrone (Carey) can add something to what we do as can Joseph (Addai). The two guys (Justin Vincent and Alley Broussard) that have played so well for us the last three weeks we want to keep them going as well. I think we will start with trying to create a role for each one of those guys because that is really one too many to worry about trying to get turns. I am not worried about how many carries they get. I am worried about what their role is and how well they can effectively do what we would like them to do to help our offense have success.”
Since the South Carolina contest, the LSU offense is averaging over 500 yards per game with the running game accounting for 233 of those yards. In addition, quarterback Matt Mauck has completed 59 of 78 passes for 734 yards and nine touchdowns over LSU’s last three games. As a unit, the Tiger offense is averaging 37.7 points in wins over South Carolina, Auburn and Louisiana Tech and they have converted on 22 of 43 third-down chances during that span.
Archived audio of Coach Saban’s weekly meeting with the media is now available to members on www.LSUsports.tv.