BATON ROUGE – LSU continued to prepare for Saturday’s Southeastern Conference clash with fourth-ranked Alabama with a workout indoors here Wednesday at the Charles McClendon Practice Facility.
LSU will have a light practice on Thursday followed by a walk-through on Friday afternoon. Kickoff between LSU and Alabama is scheduled for 7 p.m. on CBS.
LSU, winners of three straight, is 7-2 overall and 3-2 in league play. The Tigers, who were open last week, beat then-No. 3 Ole Miss, 10-7, in its last outing two weeks ago. Alabama brings a 7-1 overall mark and a 4-1 league record into the contest.
“We have had a very strong week of practice with great effort,” LSU coach Les Miles said following Wednesday’s workout. “We are looking forward to hosting a very dynamic and talented team that is well prepared. We will see if we can be up to the challenge. It is going to be fun.”
LSU will be back in Tiger Stadium for the first time since the 10-7 win over Ole Miss on Oct. 25. It’s also the final home game for the Tigers and another record-setting crowd of over 102,000 will be on hand. The game has been sold out since the summer.
“It’s the atmosphere of 100,000 people plus the home team figuring that we are going to play very well,” Miles said of the advantages of Tiger Stadium. “It is the anticipation of good things. The crowd’s level of noise and cheering certainly boosts the home team and is a distraction to the visiting team. The people are passionately attached to the home team. It is special.”
Miles added that the atmosphere in Tiger Stadium for the Ole Miss game was one that he won’t soon forget.
“There are some games that come into my memory,” Miles said. “My first game was an unbelievably loud environment, the Florida game we played in 2007 was unbelievably loud and Ole Miss was certainly that as well. I think of all the many great games that have been played in that stadium and it is hard to go by some of those memories.”
LSU is expected to be back at full strength for Saturday after having last Saturday off, the first time in 10 weeks that the Tigers didn’t have a game on the schedule. LSU practiced three days last week before taking the weekend off. The Tigers returned to practice on Monday.
“I don’t think so,” Miles said when asked if there would be any rust on the players following the open date. “I think that young guys look forward to playing and it really was only Thursday to Monday before they got back to throwing and catching balls.”