BATON ROUGE ? Four days into its return to the practice field, the fourth-ranked LSU football team has installed 25 percent of its game plan for the Jan. 3 contest against 11th-ranked Notre Dame.
The Tigers (10-2) and the Irish (10-2) will meet at 7:35 p.m. in the Allstate Sugar Bowl at the Louisiana Superdome on Jan. 3. The game will be televised to a national audience by FOX.
The Tigers will practice again on Thursday afternoon followed by a morning session on Friday. LSU will then take a three-day Holiday break before return to practice on the afternoon of Dec. 26. LSU will depart for the Sugar Bowl on Dec. 28.
“We had another good practice today,” LSU coach Les Miles said. “We got in a number of snaps. We probably have about 25 percent of our game plan in and we’re looking forward to getting more pieces of the plan into place before we take a break for the Holidays.”
Miles said his team and its preparation is right on schedule for the contest against Notre Dame, which is still two weeks away.
“You have to build,” Miles said of the game plan. “If you put it all in right away and just repeat it practice after practice, it’s not as exciting and fresh as it needs to be for the players.”
Miles also used Wednesday’s post-practice meeting with the media to address the recent talk of some of his assistant coaches pursuing head coaching opportunities as well as the speculation of a couple of Tiger underclassmen turning pro.
“It’s pretty routine, to be honest,” Miles said. “When you have quality assistants, people are going to talk about them. If you have good players, and you plan on winning championships which means you have good players, then they are going to have opportunities.
“It’s a responsibility of my job as the head coach to help promote my guys. We have some very good coaches here. This is just part of what comes with running a successful program. You hire great coaches and have great players. As a player, when you come to LSU, you’re going to get a great degree, play championship football and have a shot to play at the next level.
“If you coach at LSU, there is a good likelihood that you may have an opportunity to do well in your career. All of those things are a reflection of a great school.”
Miles also acknowledged that the Tigers will have six members of the football team be awarded their college degree on Thursday. Those Tigers graduating on Thursday include offensive guard Brian Johnson (general studies), defensive end Ryan Willis (kinesiology), defensive back Keron Gordon (general studies), offensive lineman Paris Hodges (general studies), offensive lineman Garett Wibel (general studies) and linebacker Jason Spadoni (general studies).
“I’m very proud of those guys,” Miles said. “They made a commitment when they came to LSU and that was to get their diploma and to pursue championship football on the field. These guys have accomplished both. To think that in a two-week period they are going to graduate and play in the Sugar Bowl, what a great way to end your college career. That’s what being a student-athlete is all about, pursuing excellence in the classroom and on the field.”
The six football players who will graduate on Thursday will join current Tigers Peter Dyakowski and Ryan Gaudet as graduates. Dyakowski, an offensive tackle, and Gaudet, a kicker, both graduated last spring.