BATON ROUGE — After a week of getting back to basics and fundamentals on the practice field, 13th-ranked LSU will get a glimpse of the results on Saturday as the Tigers host Mississippi State in a rare late-morning contest in Tiger Stadium.
Kickoff is set for 11:33 a.m. in a sold out Tiger Stadium, the eighth consecutive home sellout for the Tigers dating back to last season. LSU fans are reminded to wear gold to the game. LSU enters the contest coming off a 10-9 road loss to Auburn last week, while Mississippi State dropped a 9-7 decision to I-AA Maine.
LSU comes into the game with a 2-1 overall mark, which includes an 0-1 Southeastern Conference record, while the Bulldogs are 1-2 overall and 0-1 in league play. The Tigers have won four straight and 11 of the last 12 against Mississippi State, including a 41-6 win over the Bulldogs last year in Starkville.
“We’ve had a good week,” LSU coach Nick Saban said. “I think that the attitude and the effort in what we wanted to try to accomplish this week in terms of improvement have gotten better.
“We’ve worked really hard this week to try to teach. We tried to get the players to understand that doing it the right way is really important to having success, and showing them every opportunity that we can, that when they don’t do (it right) what the consequences can be.”
Against Mississippi State, the Tigers will face a program under the direction of first-year coach Sylvester Croom, a longtime NFL assistant coach.
“I think that Sylvester Croom is doing an outstanding job there,” Saban said. “Their team is playing hard, they play aggressive, and they play with a lot of discipline. Their players are doing a good job, which is a sign to me that their coaching staff is doing a great job and it’s because of his leadership. I think he has done a fantastic job, inheriting what is probably a pretty tough situation, and he is doing a good job of improving that situation.”
Despite the loss to Maine last week, Saban said the Bulldogs appeared to have played their best game of the season against the Black Bears. MSU turned the ball over three times inside the 20-yard line last week.
“I think they played their best football game of the year last week,” Saban said. “They turned the ball over three times inside the 20 (yard line) and missed a field goal from about the 20-yard line. But they played with more consistency on both sides of the ball, played the best defense of the year and I think they moved the ball most effectively.”
The State offense revolves around the play of sophomore quarterback Ommar Conner, who has connected on 46 of 77 passes for 465 yards and two touchdowns.
“He (Ommar) has done a really good job for them,” Saban said. “He’s a very good athlete who can run and throw and he thrives in their system.”
When the Tigers have the ball, LSU will look for more consistent play from quarterbacks Marcus Randall and JaMarcus Russell, while also trying to establish the running game. Randall, who has started LSU’s first three games, has completed 16 of 34 passes for 170 yards and two scores, while Russell has connected on 24 of 56 attempts for 419 yards and four TDs.
“Somebody’s got to take the bull by the horns at this (quarterback) position to get the kind of execution that we need,” Saban said. “We get it at times from both guys and at times we get inconsistencies at that position. What affects the team is the inconsistent play, not who’s playing.
“Both guys do some things well, and they make some mistakes that they need to improve on so that we get more consistent execution at that position. I think that is what will create the rhythm that we need for our team. I don’t really care who does it or when it happens, the sooner the better, but somebody needs to do that. And I’m not sure that that’s happened quite yet. We’re going to continue to work with both guys, and we believe in both guys.”
Justin Vincent leads the Tigers in rushing with 184 yards and two TDs on 40 carries, while Joseph Addai has 118 yards and one score on 12 rushes.
Dwayne Bowe leads the Tigers in receiving with 10 catches for 185 yards and four scores, while Craig Davis has nine catches for 170 yards.
Defensively, linebacker Lionel Turner leads the Tigers with 30 tackles, including four for losses and two sacks, while safety LaRon Landry has recorded 28 tackles and a team-best three sacks.