BATON ROUGE — LSU head coach Les Miles spoke to the media on Monday as his team prepares to face Idaho on Saturday at 7 p.m. in Tiger Stadium.
Watch the video now or check back for the transcript.
TRANSCRIPT OF LSU COACH LES MILES’ WEEKLY PRESS CONFERENCE
Opening statement …
“What a beautiful day it was today. It was a little cool, and there was a little football in the air. The Washington game, we played a better opponent, and we challenged the team to be ready to play. We do not take any opponent lightly. Washington was a bowl team a year ago, and we had to be ready to play. I thought they were. Everyone talks about improvement that was made between week one and week two. I think that was pretty evident in this game. We reduced our penalties. We still turned the ball over once, which we have to get a handle on. We can’t indiscriminately throw the ball on the ground. It really is pretty easy to maintain control of that ball. We will coach that yet again. Certainly we are not ready to play our best opponents yet, but I am encouraged.
“I felt like we did make improvement, and I feel like our football team approached that game correctly. We scored 41 points and gained 437 yards of total offense, 242 rushing and 192 passing and had good balance. We would have liked to eliminate drops. If we don’t have five drops we probably add 50 to 70 yards and another touchdown. Simply put, if we want to do some of the things that we want to do, we need to fix that. I believe that our guys understand it and are working to handle that. I don’t think that is a problem, but it’s something that we will look at and address. The offensive line played good. You take Josh Dworaczyk and put him in. There are no sacks and we move the football well. They did a nice job considering the injury to Chris (Faulk). The running backs, Alfred Blue had 101 yards and a touchdown and the four running backs averaged 5.5 yards per carry. We are fortunate there. I think we are going to be capable on offense. I like the way our quarterback (Zach Mettenberger) played. He was very accurate. He was on his reads and doing the right things. We want to use him more. We want to throw the football down the field and more efficiently. If we eliminate some of those drops, that will happen pretty effortlessly.
“Defense allowed one field goal. On the opening kickoff we gave them the ball on the 20, and they have to kick a field goal. If you had to put them to the test that was the first possible time they could have been tested in that game, and they answered it well. Defense gave up a small number of yards. They rushed for 26 yards and had 157 yards passing. You are looking at a defense that had to be ready. They had a tempo package and a very talented quarterback. They had guys that can catch the ball and move the ball in the air, and yet could also run the football. They had a very talented running back should we be to weary of the throw. I thought they did a great job. We had four sacks and the quarterback was pressured all night long. That is the style of defense we need to play. With each contest there are different tests. That certainly was a good one. Jalen Mills was named the SEC Freshman of the Week and Sam Montgomery was named the SEC Defensive Lineman of the Week. That certainly is a nice award that those guys can enjoy.
“I felt like our special teams also had the opportunity to be dominant. Brad Wing averaged about 55 yards per punt. His 64-yard punt that really changed field position and his 52-yard punt into the wind at the end of the game, those are some pretty special punts. As long as we can move the football and not turn it over, and as long as that defense continues to play stingy, tough LSU style of football, and we can be dominant in special teams, the recipe for success is right there. Again, I liked how we operated. Drew Alleman was two for two on field goals. Those were field goals that were significant and scores could make the difference. Overall there are things to do to improve. We are not ready to play our best opponents, but it was a really a nice sign and a nice start. The season begins as it should.
“Idaho comes in and they are a good football team. They are a team that is historically used to winning in their level. Looking at this year, they lose to Eastern Washington, who was the national champions two year ago. They play Bowling Green who played Florida off of their feet. We need to be ready to play. We need to have the same intensity that we have every time we play in Tiger Stadium. In fact, if we are going to improve, this football team needs to take some of those strides this week against this opponent. We have respect for our opponent, and I believe that this team is good enough. If we play like we play and bring the intensity that we need to bring, we will accomplish what we need to accomplish this Saturday night in Tiger Stadium.”
On team success …
“I think the things that allow this team to do well overtime are to not take anybody lightly, to recognize that it’s about how we take the field, what we attempt to get accomplished and how we’re going to play. Playing in Tiger Stadium certainly helps, but it’s a want. I think our football team and our program altogether are designed to work awfully hard and do things through the week that ensure preparation, but it doesn’t go without effort and energy. Then, when you get to Saturday, with hard work comes the want and desire for victory. I think this team’s had it for quite some time.”
On team improvements …
“(Washington) rushed the ball I want to say 25 times for 26 yards. With that in mind, that lets you know that time and time again their choice is to throw it. That’s the thing that we want to do. We want to make every offense single faceted. We want them to go for the throw for the answers, and we’ll allow ourselves to pass rush. I think that’s what happened. I certainly felt like the defensive line was looking forward to getting in the backfield that evening.”
On WR James Wright …
“James (Wright) is a talented receiver. He’s as capable as there is. It’s an opportunity for him to make some of those catches and make it work. It’s a part of the game plan, and it’s really a party of the game plan every week. The opportunity for our defense to give us those throws was shown on Saturday.”
On QB Zach Mettenberger‘s improvement …
“I felt like he handled the pressure of play, and I think he’s much more comfortable from week one to week two. I think in week two, he understood it better. He was much more accurate, and he’s going to get better with each game.”
On what he hopes to accomplish this week …
“We’d like to have the same balance we had offensively and to throw the ball better. A part of that is to not mishandle well-thrown balls. Defensively, they need to continue the same intensity and consistency in pressing the pass and stopping the line. If we do that and we tackle well, we’ll play great defensive football. On special teams; if you look at our specialist, our kicker, our kickoff man, the guy who scores points, our punter and our long snapper; they’re pretty small. Consistency has to take place in our special teams. We’ll have return men, and we’ll work hard in making sure we understand ball security in that game as well. We need speed under kicks, and if we’ll handle kicks, we’ll be good in special teams.”
On preparing to play Idaho …
“I’m certain that that’ll be mentioned in our meetings. I know that it’s a great example of college football, and there’s one every year. Appalachian State against Michigan to open the season, you would never guess that game would end the way it did. For those teams that come in, you need to come to play football at the same level of intensity that you play well. If you watch the film, you can see that they have a nice quarterback that can throw the football. They have a running game based on the ability to throw it and a very capable defensive front with guys that run to the ball and tackle well. Their specialists, they have a great return man, a guy that’s ranked on all the watch lists. There’s a guy that will be due post-season honors, and a punter that’s second-ranked. They have good players, and recognizing that they do, irrespective of national prominence, are quality teams. They play extremely well. I respect the way they played Bowling Green. I recognize that Bowling Green’s a very capable division one team. I think our approach will be the right approach.”
On younger players and the upcoming game against Idaho …
“The good news is we play some young guys in the early going of that game. They continue to improve and get better. This is a game where we’re looking for the best players to take the field. It’s an opportunity for our young guys who will be playing first snaps and key snaps in the contest to improve and get better.”
On QB Zach Mettenberger and the passing game …
“I think Zach continues to improve. I think his responsibility, the protection, certainly is there and he’s doing a great job there. He’s functioning the offense and doing everything we’re asking him to do. This seems to me that he’s very comfortable throwing the ball. Consistency in the passing game is generally based on guys that have some age and understand what you’re trying to do with the throw and when the ball’s going to come to them. I think our veterans understand that, and I think it’s a reason that James Wright gets the number of catches that he does. I think it’s also the idea that Kadron Boone is catching touchdown receptions two weeks in a row. It just lets you know that these guys are in the spots they need to be so the quarterback can get them the ball.”
On OL Josh Dworaczyk …
Josh (Dworaczyk) has been playing left guard his entire career, and we always use him as the backup left tackle. He’s a guy that’s always tacking snaps, and we very comfortably moved him out and moved another guy in. We want to get La’el (Collins) ready to play for left guard, because he’s really improved and Dworaczyk could step in for either of those left side spots. We’re fortunate to have him. I think his background on the left side is benefiting us tonight and today. I think he’ll stay there. I have confidence in (Vadal) Alexander, and if we happen to move Hurst over, I think Hurst could handle the left side as well.”
On preparing alternate offensive line combinations …
“You look at them during practice, period. That’s fundamental. When you look at a move that could be made, you practice it through the course of the week. When you get to the back end of the week, we won’t practice it as much. The beginning, we will.”
On the offensive line transitions with Josh Dworaczyk …
“I think (Josh) Dworaczyk is so engrained there. He knows all the signals and all the calls, and he knows exactly what he should be doing. I think there’s never been anything but a very positive reaction to Dworaczyk. We obviously miss Chris (Faulk) and his talents and his abilities, but we’re fortunate to have a guy like Josh that can really step in and handle the business.”
On Kadron Boone‘s improvement …
“I think he started to expect himself to make some big plays. When you have confidence in your play, you’re going to express your hands to the ball and snatch it out of the air. You start feeling that ability, and I think that makes a difference. I think he’s ready to make those plays now.”
On Fullback J.C. Copeland …
“I think that the ability for a fullback to carry a ball, and the ability of a fullback to block and therefore receive the ball makes him a whole guy. It gives us everything we need. Developing him certainly is something we want to do, to develop the position if you will. I think he’s capable. It’s an advantage to have a guy that can run and block as well as he does. We’ll see if we can get him some receptions, because we really think that he’s that guy.”
On CB Jalen Mills becoming more competitive …
“You can see competitive nature in film. As the game gets close, the style of play that’s being made by him, how he translates competition, you can really see it in film. You don’t know how it’s going to translate on our campus. Is he going to be dismayed by the talent, or is he going to be starry-eyed and looking to see where he fits, when is that going to happen? For him, it happened right away. He came out, he’s playing hard, and aggressively. He’s making mistakes, but improving every day. That was very visible, and everybody could see it. He’s not only competitive physically, but competitively defending the pass and competitively tackling, and you could just see it. Again, he’s still awfully young, but he has the want and desire to play better each day.”
On DE Lavar Edwards and DE Chancey Aghayere …
“I think that we’re fortunate here, because the repetition of our defense allows for highly heralded starters to be pushed and compete with very talented backups. It really doesn’t do me service to call either of those two guys backups because they place irregularly. We count on those guys to play as basically what would be starters, snaps and to keep those guys that might start to gain fresh anyway. No one’s saying that those guys are lesser. We’re really saying they’re guys that deserve the best snaps and the most snaps. It’s a team guy that develops his work, hi skill, and his abilities to help his team. Those guys that you mentioned, they know they’re going into the game in the heat of the game. They’re going to play big snaps. There is one of two ways that a guy could go, but here, it’s only ever been about getting to the field and being prepared to play once you get there.”
On teamwork …
“You have to have it. We play a very up tempo style of defense. We expect guys to run to the ball. We really would like to give them about fifty snaps plus a game. Much more than that, that would require a shared role at the position. I think it’s an advantage for us. I think it’s a way to approach defensive football. Again, I think “team” is a big word in our meeting room. Many times, you talk quickly about my team. If you talk quickly about the White Sox, you don’t really know much about it, it’s just a name over there. Or the Giants, because you have a couple guys there playing that you’re interested in. That’s a team also, but when you say your team, LSU, and you’re a player, it takes on greater strength to you. Your commitment is different than part-time or not really involved or fully committed. You lose yourself very comfortably in that room where the entire room does hard things for each other. One of those hard things would be let somebody walk on the field first, and the next hardest thing would be to not be ready when you walk on the field second to play extremely well. So I think team is certainly important in our team room.”
On LB Luke Muncie…
“I think (Luke) Muncie’s doing really well. I think he continues to improve, and that’s what he has to do. I don’t know the length and time of Tahj Jones‘ position. I certainly hope that it would right itself in any way quickly. Certainly we understand.”
On playing freshmen and first-timers …
“It’s interesting. We’ve always played freshmen and a number of guys. I want to say that’s about the exact same number played as two years ago when we had a group of young freshmen that played, had to play, and played great at special teams. I think it’s a characteristic of us. It’s what we have to do. It’s fortunate that we recruit very talented young people. When they come on campus they expect to play guys like (Tahj) Jones, guys like (Jalen) Mills. Those guys are saying frankly, this is why I chose here. We expect young players to play and play big. I think we are on course and on track, but I don’t know if it’s any different than other years.”
On Spencer Ware‘s performance against Washington …
“I think he was looking forward to taking the field. I think it’s no question that the snaps that he got were very sincerely approached. I thought he ran very hard. My impression of him was a very physical back, and we were glad to have him back.”