BATON ROUGE — With one home game remaining in the 2006, Les Miles spoke to the media at his weekly press conference to preview the Senior Day matchup against long-time SEC rival Ole Miss. Watch the press conference on-demand in the Geaux Zone powered by USAgencies.
COMMENTS FROM LSU COACH LES MILES AT HIS WEEKLY PRESS CONFERENCE
“We played a quality opponent in Alabama. We went into the game understanding what their record said. We also understood the series record and what it meant to not be leading in a series record in your own stadium. They have very good players. They are a very good football team. We got their best effort. I really mean this. When you have a mistake or a difficult issue as a team in Mississippi State like Alabama did, what you do is what they did — prepare to play extremely well, play emotional and play with everything they had. And they did. They challenged us. They challenged us from the start to the finish. It’s a game that our football team responded to that we needed. I was very happy of how our team responded in that situation. We scored offensively in our first three possessions. We had 418 yards total offense with 207 of those being rushing yards. That kind of balance, you put immediate pressure on your opponent because you are scoring early, and when you have the ability to run the football and throw it, they don’t quite know how to defend you. Late in the game, we had the opportunity to run the clock out. Offensively, I thought it was a very strong day.”
“Defensively, we lost our starting linebacker early in the first quarter and we had to do some shuffling. I really feel like the guys that stepped in. They responded well and played hard. Jacob Cutrera made a tackle on his first play. He did the things that he had been taught and did not think about where he was at or who he was playing against. It was just how he was supposed to play and did a very good job. We also got some playing time out of Perry Riley. Just to give him some time playing with the right mix, he responded well. Our defense ran into an Alabama team that had a really good plan. One, they weren’t going to hold the ball long. They were going to throw it fast. We got to the quarterback at times and other times he made just tremendous throws. Our defense was challenged to continue to play. I really think that the two turnovers, certainly just before the half on the 18-yard line was a great play. We always see that if you give a team the opportunity to travel the long field against our defense that something will happen in between that will stop them. Our play just before the half certainly did that. The defense had to play. It just wasn’t three and out this week. They had to respond. Our defense learned something in that game.”
“Offensively, the MVP is JaMarcus Russell, 18-of-21. He really missed very few throws. I think maybe one. He threw one away where he was pressured. There were no turnovers on offense. He put the ball away and ran it and got us about 35 to 40 yards in rushing yards coming out of the pocket. He gave us a dimension there that we really enjoy. Defensively, Tyson Jackson is having a really strong year. He has four tackles, a sack, a pass breakup and is a constant presence on the field. He is also named the SEC Defensive Lineman (of the Week). If you look at special teams a week ago, it was our punter/kicker and before that it was (Craig) Buster Davis. Buster Davis is a punt returner. Early Doucet goes into the game and fields his first punts in a live game. He handles some kickoff returns and makes some tackles. He just plays a strong football game from start to finish. When your team turns to you and asks you to do something that you may not necessarily be accustomed to and you do it very, very well, this really is a credit to Early Doucet. He is our MVP of special teams.”
“We’re in improved position but again we don’t control our destiny. The only thing that we can control is the games that are on our schedule and we look forward to playing the very next one. This will be a senior night. We will take 22 seniors into that stadium for the last time. It will be an awfully important outing for those folks. They have a really distinct opportunity that if they win two games, they will tie as the class with the most wins in LSU history. If they have three wins, they will exceed that class by one. We have a very, very good senior class and a group of men that we will really miss. We want to send them off with a victory.”
“We play an Ole Miss team that is 3-7, but their record does not depict what kind of football team they are. Their quarterback showed up brand new in fall camp and really went through a learning curve. They are much better on offense. They have a nice tailback. They are a powerful running football team. Their quarterback (Brent) Schaeffer can move the ball around with his arm and feet. Defensively, they have a couple of linebackers that are just great players. They have a nice scheme.”
“We understand the history of this rivalry. We understand that it is a border war. We understand how important this game is. We like our match-up. We bring in the No. 1 (in the SEC) offense in scoring and total offense and the No. 1 defense in scoring and total defense into this game. We enjoy being in Tiger Stadium. This will be an opportunity to experience a victory and a chance for us to pick up our ninth win of the season.”