BATON ROUGE — Rain chased LSU indoors on Wednesday as the No. 9/11 Tigers continued to prepare for Saturday’s home opener against Vanderbilt.
The Tigers host the Commodores at 6 p.m. in Tiger Stadium on Saturday in a game that will be televised by ESPNU. Fewer than 500 tickets remain for the home opener and they can be purchased for $50 each at the LSU Ticket Office, over the Internet at www.LSUsports.net/tickets, or by calling (225) 578-2184.
LSU enters the contest with a 1-0 overall mark following last week’s 31-23 win over Washington, while the Commodores opened their season with a 45-0 win over Western Carolina. It’s the first meeting between the teams since a 34-6 LSU victory in Nashville in 2005.
“I like the week,” LSU coach Les Miles said following Wednesday’s practice. “I thought the tempo at practice was good and our preparation was sharp.
“We’re crisp; some of the mistakes that were made in last week’s game were addressed this week. We’re looking better. Thursday is a finish day as we look forward to playing in Tiger Stadium.”
Against Vanderbilt the Tigers will face a team that racked up 433 yards rushing last week against Western Carolina. The Commodores’ rushing attack is paced by a pair of true freshmen in Zac Stacy and Warren Norman.
“They’re both very dangerous runners,” Miles said. “They do a great job by scheme, giving them the ball where numbers can hardly gang up on them. You have to be able to defeat a block and make a tackle on these guys. They are very, very good.”
Even though the head coach is the same, Miles said that this year’s Vanderbilt team is much different than the team the Tigers faced in 2005.
“They’re much different,” Miles said. “They had a pocket quarterback, who is still in the NFL. There’s some differences in their personnel. They do much more no-huddle and their defense is kind of a disguise package. Their special teams has also continued to improve. They’re a much better team.”
LSU will wrap up the week of practice with a shells (shorts and shoulder pads) workout on Thursday afternoon followed by a walk-through on Friday.