BATON ROUGE — With final exams behind them, LSU returns to the practice field on Sunday for the first time since late November as the Tigers begin their bowl game preparations at the Charles McClendon Practice Facility.
LSU, which hasn’t played since a 31-26 win over fifth-ranked Arkansas on Nov. 24 in Little Rock, Ark., faces 11th-ranked Notre Dame on Jan. 3 in the Allstate Sugar Bowl. Sunday’s practice will be the first full workout for the Tigers since Nov. 23.
“It’s time to get back to work,” LSU coach Les Miles said. “The players have used the last couple of weeks to focus on academics and making sure that all of their school work was in order, but now it’s time to turn our attention to Notre Dame and the Sugar Bowl.”
While it may be LSU’s first time on the practice field in over three weeks, the Tigers still spent at least three days a week in the weight room, lifting weights and conditioning, during the break.
LSU will practice starting at 2 p.m. on Sunday, which will be followed that night at 7 o’clock with the annual team awards banquet at the Holiday Inn Select.
The Tigers will practice Monday through Friday this week, going each day at their usual 3 p.m. start time, except for a morning session on Friday. The Tigers will break for Christmas following the Friday workout.
Miles and the staff will welcome the Tigers back to campus on Dec. 26 for an afternoon workout. LSU will spend the 27th and 28th practicing in Baton Rouge before departing for the Sugar Bowl at 2 p.m. on Dec. 28.
The Tigers and the Irish will kickoff at 7:35 on Jan. 3 in the Louisiana Superdome in a contest that will be televised to a national audience by FOX. The game will also be broadcast worldwide by ESPN Radio. LSU, winners of six straight, brings a 10-2 overall mark into the contest. Notre Dame brings an identical 10-2 mark into the game as well.
It will mark the first meeting between the Tigers and the Irish since a 39-36 Notre Dame victory in South Bend in 1998.