Room for growth

• By RANDY ROSETTA
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Oct 26, 2009 - Page: 1C

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Whether by design or simply because his gut told him so, LSU coach Les Miles tempered his enthusiasm just a bit Saturday night after the No. 9-ranked Tigers barreled past Auburn 31-10.

Not to the point where he took anything away from LSU’s best offensive game of the season. But Miles made sure the door is still propped open for the Tigers (6-1, 4-1 Southeastern Conference) to get better — especially on offense.

Continuing struggles to get much going on the ground is undoubtedly at the core of Miles’ restrained celebration.

Although 122 of LSU’s 376-yard performance was in the running game, the bulk of that came on freshman Russell Shepard’s dazzling 69-yard, game-sealing touchdown run in the third quarter.

Quarterback Jordan Jefferson was more of a factor with his legs, running for 50 yards, although he was sacked three times and lost 2 yards on another run to wind up with 26.

Other than the contributions of Shepard and Jefferson, the Tigers finished with only 25 yards on 13 carries.

The longest gain by a running back was Charles Scott’s 8-yard blast on LSU’s first offensive snap of the night.

Scott was limited to 20 yards on 10 attempts and still has yet to crack the 100-yard plateau through seven games.

“We think, that in the long run, in football and in the stretch run of the season, the team that has balance — that can run it and throw it — will be the most dangerous offensively,” Miles said.

The danger LSU posed against Auburn came mainly from Jefferson and his talented receiving corps. Even there, though, there’s still plenty of wiggle room to get better.

Firing away from the first series, Jefferson finished with 21 completions in 31 attempts for 242 yards, all career-highs.

LSU’s 66 offensive snaps were nearly divided in half: 34 passes, 32 runs. But the production was nowhere close to even as the Tigers passed for a season-high 254 yards.

That’s the Tigers highest passing total since they had 309 in a 52-38 loss to Georgia on Oct. 25, 2008.
“We are going to throw the football,” Miles said. “That’s what we always wanted to do.