BATON ROUGE — LSU coach Nick Saban has been pleased with his team’s progress this week as the Tigers continue to prepare for Saturday’s home finale against Ole Miss.
The Tigers and Ole Miss will square off in Tiger Stadium at 7 p.m. on Saturday in what will be the final home game for LSU’s 11 seniors. The game will be televised by TigerVision.
LSU, winners of four straight overall and 10 straight in Tiger Stadium, brings a 7-2 overall mark into the Ole Miss game. LSU, which is 4-2 in league play, is coming off a 26-10 win over Alabama. Ole Miss is 3-6 overall and 2-4 in Southeastern Conference play following a 35-3 loss at Arkansas last week.
“I think we’re getting better offensively,” Saban said following Wednesday’s workout. “I’ve been really encouraged by the spirit and enthusiasm that we have on offense. I think we’re gaining a little bit of confidence in what we’re doing. We’re making some improvements in the passing game and hopefully we’ll be able to continue to do that.”
Saban said one key for the Tigers heading into the final two weeks of the regular season is to get the playmakers involved on offense.
“We have to establish a few more playmakers in the game,” Saban said. “I know we have some out there, we just haven’t been able to get them the ball consistently enough to allow them to make the kind of plays I think they’re capable of.”
Defensively, the Tigers have used the first three days of practice this week getting prepared to stop three Ole Miss quarterbacks, all of which bring a little something different to the game.
“Defensively, this is like a dual preparation,” Saban said. “They run some option, which they’ve done with certain quarterbacks in the game, and then with other guys it’s pretty much a drop-back kind of offense like they’ve been before.
“The combination of those two things has made it a little more difficult preparation for us defensively. I think we made more mental errors (in practice) than I would be happy about but I also know that the volume of what we’re trying to do is maybe more than what they’re used to, too, because you’ve got two different philosophies working behind each quarterback.”
The Tigers will practice again on Thursday followed by a walk-thru in Tiger Stadium on Friday afternoon.