BATON ROUGE – LSU continued to prepare for its New Year’s Eve game against Baylor in the Kinder’s Texas Bowl with another workout Saturday at the Charles McClendon Practice Facility.
The Tigers will use Sunday as a recovery day before holding its final practice in Baton Rouge on Monday. The Tigers will take three days off for Christmas before departing for Houston on Dec. 27.
Kickoff for the LSU-Baylor contest is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. CT on Dec. 31 at NRG Stadium. The game will be televised on ESPN.
LSU, winners of its last two regular-season games, brings an 8-4 overall mark into what will be the program’s third appearance in the Texas Bowl. Baylor, coached by former LSU defensive coordinator Dave Aranda, has won six straight and stands at 8-4 overall. It’s the first meeting between LSU and Baylor since the Bears posted a 21-7 win over the Tigers in the 1985 Liberty Bowl.
“The morale has been great and every guy that’s out there wants to be out there,“ LSU coach Brian Kelly said of bowl practice. “Practices have been lively, the guys are excited about preparing and they want the right outcome so they know they have to prepare the right way.
“It’s been fun for me as a coach and our coaches have been excited about the mindset of the group. We will have some first-time starters in this game and you’ll see that at times, but this is a group that wants to go out there and compete and they’ll compete hard.”
One of the young players getting extra work during bowl prep due to the departure of Mason Taylor and Ka’Morreun Pimpton is that of Trey’Dez Green, who has seen action at both tight end and wide receiver this year as a true freshman.
“The end line blocking is probably the area that we are most impressed with,” Kelly said of Green’s development during bowl preparation. “His want to and willingness to go in there and do some of the tough jobs. We are pretty excited about what’s he’s doing, how he’s doing and his demeanor because that’s an easy job to turn down and he’s been great.”
Green capped the regular-season with seven catches for 48 yards and a pair of touchdowns.