BATON ROUGE — LSU coach Les Miles met with members of the media on Sunday, a day after the top-ranked Tigers used a second half rally to beat Florida, 28-24, in Tiger Stadium.
The following is a transcript from Miles’ Sunday media briefing:
Opening Statement
“We played awfully hard. Guys made plays. The different players and pieces of our team all just really participated and played key roles. It is interesting (Jacob) Hester ends up making a number of carries, a number of fourth down conversions, plays big in (special) teams. He may well have had one of the better overall games that I’ve been around. We saw big plays coming at different times from a number of guys. When I watched the film, there was extremely sincere contact. We’re bruised. It doesn’t appear to be anything really serious. We’re down at the half, yet it is pretty obvious we didn’t play errorless ball. We dropped balls, mishandled balls and missed a few field goals. I’m proud of the team. I am proud of how they responded.”
On being a run oriented team …
“We still enjoy throwing the football very much. Early Doucet not being in the lineup for a number of weeks, but I think that part of our game may be more defendable. I thought we threw the ball well at times in that game.”
On the status of wide receiver Early Doucet …
“I don’t know to what extent. I will use the phrase cautiously optimistic that he will play in this game. If he doesn’t, we’re not going to push anything. He almost dressed out for this game. I will be certain that he will travel with us to Kentucky. I don’t know to what extent if he’ll be ready to play until after this week.”
On the fourth down conversions …
“The opportunity to be down 10-7 is obviously an incentive. I just didn’t roll the dice, but there was some reasons to do and don’t with those things — momentum, feel of the game, time of the game. We were fortunate that (Jacob) Hester made some good plays and we did some blocking.”
On Jacob Hester …
“He makes good decisions with the ball. He makes cuts. He’s a physical back. He’s very capable. He runs hard. He has great ball security. It was an overall strong game. He played snaps in special teams. He played snaps on offense. I like the decisions he makes with the ball.”
On being unanimously No. 1 …
“We are complimented by the opportunity to be first in the country. There isn’t any question, we respect the opinion of the voters, but in reality, it is like being ahead at halftime. We are going to be close enough we hope if we just focus on our opponents and do the things we need to do week by week. The good thing is this team really had the ability to turn to their opponents. We will enjoy that a little bit today and a little bit tomorrow morning. Tomorrow afternoon this victory is over. We are looking at a completely different opponent in a new week with the opportunity to travel and win.”