BATON ROUGE — One day after being forced indoors to practice because of wet fields, third-ranked LSU went back outside on Wednesday as the Tigers continued to prepare for Saturday’s conference showdown with 15th-ranked Ole Miss 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. LSU will depart for Oxford at 3:30 p.m. on Friday.
Kickoff for Saturday’s contest between the 9-1 Tigers and 8-2 Ole Miss is set for 2:30 p.m. in Oxford and the game will be televised to a national audience by CBS.
“We’ve had a good week of preparation so far,” LSU coach Nick Saban said after Wednesday’s workout.
Saturday’s matchup will feature two of the SEC’s best quarterbacks in LSU’s Matt Mauck and Ole Miss’ Eli Manning. Manning leads the SEC in passing yards (2,881) and touchdowns (23), while Mauck is first in the league in pass efficiency (154.1 rating) and second in TDs (21). Mauck’s 21 touchdown passes rank as the second-highest single-season total in LSU history.
“Matt has slowly and progressively matured and improved each and every time he has had the opportunity to and he has really played well in the last four games”, Saban said.
Over LSU’s last four games, all Tiger victories, Mauck has completed 83 of 114 passes for 985 yards and 11 touchdowns. In addition, he’s guided an LSU offense to an average of 35 points and 497 yards over the Tigers’ last four games.
Saturday’s contest will also pit one of the nation’s top defenses in LSU against the SEC’s most potent offense. The Tigers enter the Ole Miss game ranked No. 1 in the nation in scoring defense (8.9 points per game), second in the nation against the run (60.8 yards per game) and fourth in the country in total defense (259.7 yards per game). LSU is the only team in the nation that has yet to allow 20 or more points in a game this season.
Ole Miss, on the other hand, is averaging a league-best 36.6 points per game to go along with 459.6 yards of total offense a contest.
The Tigers enter Saturday’s game with only one player’s status in doubt and that’s tight end Demetri Robinson, who has missed LSU’s last three games with a groin injury. Saban said that offensive guard Nate Livings (knee) has practiced all week and could be ready to play in Saturday’s game. Livings has been out of action since the first half of the South Carolina contest.