BATON ROUGE – LSU returns to Tiger Stadium for the first time in nearly a month on Saturday when the Tigers host Kentucky in a key Southeastern Conference contest for both teams.
Kickoff between the Tigers and Wildcats is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on the SEC Network with Brent Musburger, Jesse Palmer and Maria Taylor on the call. The game can also be heard on the LSU Sports Radio Network and in the GeauxZone on LSUsports.net with Jim Hawthorne, Doug Moreau and Gordy Rush calling the action.
LSU will be playing its first game in Tiger Stadium since a late September win over New Mexico State. LSU is coming off back-to-back road games against Auburn and Florida. Last week, LSU hit a 50-yard field goal with just three seconds left to beat Florida in Gainesville.
LSU brings a 5-2 overall mark and a 1-2 SEC record into the contest.
Kentucky is off to its best start since 2007 with a 5-1 record following last week’s 48-14 win over ULM in Lexington. The Wildcats are 2-1 in league play with the wins coming over Vanderbilt and South Carolina. Kentucky’s only loss was a three overtime setback to Florida in early September.
LSU and Kentucky, once permanent opponents in the SEC, will be playing for the first time since 2011 when the then top-ranked Tigers toppled the Wildcats, 35-7, in Tiger Stadium. Kentucky’s last win over LSU came in 2007 when the Wildcats upset the No. 1 Tigers, 43-37, in triple-overtime in Lexington.
LSU and Kentucky played every season from 1952 through 2002 when the SEC changed it schedule rotation. LSU, which has won five of the last six against Kentucky, leads the series with the Wildcats, 39-16-1.
“Kentucky is a quality opponent that is off to a very good start,” LSU coach Les Miles said. “They have gotten better each week and they are playing with a lot of confidence.
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“I think Mark (Stoops) has done great job there. He comes from a family of coaches, who are all very successful. Mark’s impact in the two years that he’s been at Kentucky has been significant.”
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GameDay Info LSU (5-2, 1-2 SEC) vs. Kentucky (5-1, 2-1 SEC) Saturday, Oct. 18 GameDay Forecast Times of Interest 8:30 a.m. 4:35 p.m. In-Game: 1st Quarter: 2nd Quarter: Halftime: SEC Network Replay |
Miles will be coaching against a third Stoops brother on Saturday when LSU faces Kentucky. Miles is 2-2 against Bob Stoops (Oklahoma) and 1-0 against Mike Stoops (Arizona). Miles is believed to be the only head coach who has faced all three Stoops brothers.
“I have great respect for the Stoops family,” Miles said. “I have always enjoyed competing against them and tomorrow going up against Mark will be no different. I look forward to a very competitive game. “
LSU goes into the Kentucky game coming off arguably its biggest win of the season last week against Florida. The Tigers overcame a slow start to record its 23rd fourth quarter comeback win under Miles when Colby Delahoussaye drilled a 50-yard field goal with three seconds left to lift the Tigers to the win.
“I think we have set a standard now,” Miles said of last week’s performance on both sides of the ball. “We improved as a team last week. Now, we have to build on that performance and continue to get better.
“We are really excited to be back in Tiger Stadium in front of our fans. It should be a great night for football.”
Miles said that sophomore Anthony Jennings will get the nod at quarterback again this week, but the staff will continue to look for ways to get true freshman Brandon Harris into the game. Last week. Jennings completed 10-of-21 passes for 110 yards and a fourth quarter TD to Travin Dural to lead the Tigers to the win. Jennings is 5-1 as LSU’s starting quarterback and he’s already engineered three fourth quarterback comebacks during his brief career.
“Anthony continues to do the things that we ask of him,” Miles said. “We need him to manage the game for us. He can make the throws and he can get the ball where we need it. Brandon is still improving. He’s a work in progress. Right now, Anthony is giving us what we need to win.”
Jennings and the rest of the offense were bolstered last week by the play of true freshman Leonard Fournette, who rushed for a career-best 140 yards and two touchdowns on 27 carries. In seven games, Fournette has rushed for a team-best 504 yards and six touchdowns.
Defensively, the Tigers are coming off another solid outing, holding Florida to 306 total yards last week. Linebacker Kendell Beckwith made his first career start at middle linebacker and responded with six tackles. Linebacker Kwon Alexander played one of the best games of his career a week ago against Florida with 10 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and a forced fumble that eventually led to the game-winning field goal.
“The defense is getting better,” Miles said. “They are playing with better awareness and they are using the coaching and it’s making us better. One of the things that we are trying to emphasize to our defense is that we need to play well and make plays early and then get better. Last week, we gave Florida some yards that we didn’t necessarily need to give them. We made some adjustments and defended it much better later in the game. Those are the types of improvements that we are looking for.”
Against Kentucky, the Tigers will face another dual-threat quarterback in Patrick Towles. In six games, Towles has thrown for 1,541 yards and 10 touchdowns and he’s rushed for 112 yards and two scores.
“He’s good,” Miles said of Towles. “He can really throw it and he does a nice job of running their offense. It’s going to take another good defensive effort this week because the do a nice job of spreading the ball around and getting the ball in the hands of their playmakers.”
Kentucky goes into the game averaging 36.5 points and 448.5 total yards per game. Defensively, the Wildcats are limiting opponents to 18.7 points and 343.5 yards a contest.
The Kentucky game will be the fifth straight night game for LSU in Tiger Stadium this year. LSU is 44-3 in Saturday night games in Tiger Stadium under Miles with two of the three losses coming to teams ranked No. 1 in the nation. LSU is expecting a near sellout crowd on Saturday as just a few hundred tickets remained as of Friday afternoon.
“It’s nice to be back in Tiger Stadium,” Miles said. “I want this stadium to be just like it’s always been, a very live place for our opponents to witness a very, very noisy and very loud partisan crowd.”