BATON ROUGE — LSU will make its fifth national television appearance of the season on Saturday as ESPN will televise the Tigers’ clash with South Carolina.
Kickoff for the LSU-South Carolina contest is scheduled for 7 p.m. CDT from Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, S.C.
Saturday will mark LSU’s first trip to South Carolina since the 2003 season when the Tigers posted a 33-7 win over the Gamecocks in what was the first of eight straight wins for LSU to close out the national championship campaign. Last year, LSU beat the Gamecocks, 28-16, in Tiger Stadium.
Mike Patrick, Todd Blackledge and Holly Rowe will call the action for ESPN on Saturday.
LSU’s other nationally-televised games this year have come against Appalachian State (ESPN Classic), Auburn (ESPN), Mississippi State (ESPN2) and Florida (CBS).
Other SEC games on television this week include the Vanderbilt-Georgia game on Raycom Sports at 11:30 a.m. CDT and the Ole Miss-Alabama contest at 2:30 p.m. CDT on CBS.
COMMENTS FROM LSU COACH LES MILES AT HIS SUNDAY BRIEFING
Opening statement…
“I think that Florida put a heck of a game together, and they played well. You have to think that they had some ability, and certainly, it appeared to us, they did thereafter. We didn’t play as well as we were capable in several spots and really, all three phases. It’s my job to get it fixed, and I didn’t anticipate it. Going in, I was very confident that we would play well. You play quality opponents, and you find a period of time where the defense doesn’t stop them and the offense doesn’t get it going, you can get behind the score fast. It’s just tough to come back from that. There are some guys that in all phases ? offense, defense and special teams ? are going to play better. Certainly, with age and experience, we can expect better play, and some guys made some mistakes that are tough to explain, and certainly, they feel like when we meet tomorrow morning that they’ll need to execute better. I saw a darn good effort. I saw a number of defensive guys playing their butts off, and a bust or a poor fit and a missed tackle, and then, with a lack of offense, a predictable offense, just created points that were hard to surmount.”
On both the offensive and defensive struggles in the first half…
“It was the two, hand-in-hand because that’s what gave them the 20 point lead. If we are moving the football on offense, even if we’re punting it, they don’t have the opportunity to score that fast. It just takes time in between. We’ve got to have time to get adjustments talked about, and as opposed to getting back on the field. We get kind of behind the eight-ball, but we get something going with the last drive of the first half, and we get seven (points). We come back out with the first drive of the second half and get seven, and we’re right back in it, and they get the third and three. We just need to stop them right there, and we didn’t get it stopped, and we really didn’t get it stopped for the rest of the evening.”
On if the defense got tired in the second half…
“I don’t think it’s the defense didn’t have anything left in the tank. I watched them. Our defensive front four still had a greater effect on the game than their offensive line. If you talk matchups, we win that one. Did we get the pass rush we wanted? No, but I don’t think we really needed it. Generally speaking, it was medium downs and run and pass, and it was very difficult to predict. The opportunity to get pressure on them with calls was nonexistent. We never got into long-yardage situations repeatedly. They managed their third downs, which was smart, and late in the game, they could hand it off and get yards, which was not necessarily the front four but just the fit of the defense.”
On the long touchdown to Percy Harvin on the third play of the game…
“On the first play for their first touchdown, certainly there was help that should have been over the top that would have put two guys on that ball. Certainly, Danny (McCray) does not sustain the entire issue because you can identify his number in making that play.”
On the quarterback play…
“It is our greatest desire that this quarterback tandem that we have will perform to our expectations and to theirs and that we will do a better job in handling things that they can do on the road. It’s not a talent thing, no question.”
On DT Drake Nevis starting against Florida…
“He had a great week of practice and was very deserving. He’s a great effort guy. I think that we rotate those guys based on performance on Saturdays and how they practice, but I think both Nevis and Favorite played well.”
On Florida’s big runs in the second half…
“They did a little bit of that last year, and they had some success with it, and they kept it. The truth of the matter is that we had a couple nice calls for it; we just didn’t execute it.”