BATON ROUGE — LSU football head coach Nick Saban met with the media Monday afternoon at his weekly media luncheon held in the fifth floor conference room in the LSU Athletics Administration Building. Archived video is now available on www.LSUsports.tv to members.
COMMENTS FROM LSU COACH NICK SABAN AT MONDAY PRESS CONFERENCE
“Obviously I think this is a great opportunity for LSU, for our football players, and our institution to play in the SEC Championship game. As I said after the game, I think a lot of people are responsible for this but probably most importantly the people who are directly involved- the coaches and the players. They have created a great opportunity for themselves and it is certainly our goal to be able to go play our best football of the season and prepare to do that in this game. I think we want to be aggressive. We are not trying to defend anything, we are just trying to be aggressive and go play the way we play against what is a very, very good football team. I think Georgia’s record speaks for itself and their ranking speaks for itself. Their defense also speaks for itself. Offensively they have run the ball more effectively of late even though they have continued to be able to throw the ball. This is a very, very good football team that we are playing. They have outstanding skill players and good specialists on punt return and kickoff return. They have played well on special teams and this is an outstanding football team that we are playing.”
“From our standpoint we have two guys that are a little bit injured. (Tight end) Demetri Robinson is probably out because he re-injured his groin in the (Arkansas) game. He had practiced all week and we thought he was ready to go but this has been a chronic thing for him. (Free safety) LaRon Landry will be in a redshirt (non-contact jersey) today just as kind of a precaution to allow him to continue to come back from the concussion that he received in the game (Arkansas) on kickoff coverage. We chose players of the week. Chad Lavalais and Eric Alexander on defense, Stephen Peterman, Justin Vincent, and Matt Mauck on offense, and Matt was also the SEC Player of the Week. On special teams Daniel Frances and Barrington Edwards, both freshman, were our choice and each did an outstanding job on special teams.”
“The SEC Championship game, in our experience with it two years ago, is an outstanding venue. It is probably as fine a competitive situation and environment that I have ever had the opportunity to be in. It is special that our team has accomplished enough to get the opportunity to play in it and playing against a top-five opponent is also a big challenge.”
“I think Georgia has outstanding players and I think Fred Gibson is certainly an outstanding player. Reggie Brown is a very good player. They have good receivers and I think when the two of those guys are playing they obviously both can make big plays and that is of some concern. Their tight end (Ben Watson) was also out in the first game and he is a pretty good receiver and a pretty good football player as well. Those two guys being back (Gibson and Watson) certainly are going to have some effect on what we are able to do in the game especially when they are in regular people.”
On the similarity to the situation two years ago versus Tennessee
“Were we even in the top 10 two years ago? I didn’t think so. We’re third and they are fifth. Stranger things have happened and it is not like it would be the biggest upset of the century or something. It is two really good football teams that have a lot of good football players who have played with a lot of consistency and I think our players need to understand that. I think our focus needs to be on the game that we are playing and what is in front of us, which is Georgia, and nothing else. I think that when you start thinking of those other things, which I have referred to on occasion as clutter, it affects your ability to perform like you need to, to beat any good football team. This is certainly an outstanding team that we are playing.”
On the play of the freshman class especially LaRon Landry, Chris Jackson, and Justin Vincent
“Well I think that every true freshman that had the opportunity to contribute this year has done it extremely well. Justin Vincent did it when he had an opportunity due to injury; Alley Broussard also did it when he had the opportunity. It was a real key for us, because of our depth in the secondary, particularly at safety, that some of the freshman that we recruited could make a contribution. For LaRon Landry and Jessie Daniels both to do that I think was really significant to the success of our team and the consistency of our team. I not only think that what they did helped us, but it also helped play other players at other positions and we have had quite a few freshman, like Barrington Edwards and Daniel Francis. He was special teams player of the week and has more, I think has more special teams points than anybody on the team in terms of production. This helps the depth of our team and it helps some other players who normally would have to go play in those positions not to have to. I think this freshman class has contributed to a large degree to the success of this team. It is a real credit to the older players on our team who helped those guys come along. Sometimes the older players don’t really embrace the younger players and kind of separate them from the team. I think it says a lot about Randall Gay, Michael Clayton, Matt Mauck, and a lot of the leaders on our team that really embraced these young players and helped them play better. They helped them gain confidence and supported them so they could go out and contribute.”
On the performance on freshman PK Chris Jackson
“I think what Chris is doing right now is kind of what we thought he could do. It is what we expected of him and it is what he expected of himself because he had a tremendous amount of potential coming in. As all freshmen do I think he had to go through a little but of a development process to be able to kick off the ground or whatever their position requires and it took him a little while to do that. He has been outstanding in the last two or three games and hopefully he will continue to do that.”