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Sunday, November 23, 2008
SPORTS BLOG
Sports Blog: No big game-eve talk
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By RICH LOUP
2theadvocate.com Sports Editor
Posted 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2007
LSU head football coach Les Miles kicked off the SEC's inaugural edition of weekly coaches' teleconferences for 2007, and there wasn't any bulletin-board material. His Mississippi State counterpart, Sylvester Croom, also kept his comments close to the vest one day before Tigers and Bulldogs open the season in Starkville, Miss.
Here's a rough roundup of Miles comments to the general questions from the media:
On Matt Flynn: "He's been a contributor right on through. He's completed very well for the job over the last two years ... His leadership is very evident ... He just has to play very comfortably within the scheme."
On scheduling philosopies: "I don't think SEC schools have to load their schedules with nationally ranked opponents to get strength of schedule up."
On Miss. State's offense: "Conceptually, they're very good ...The quarterback appears to make good decisions. The running back seems to gives them a lot of yards after contact. They have a veteran offensive line. And they have a quality receiving corps ... If you watch the film, you can see Mississippi State has a lot of talent, they're well-coached and we expect a tremendous game from them."
Why his team should be ready to play Miss. State: "It's the first game ... And the evidence of improvement Mississippi State made at the back end of the season."
As for LSU's opener, Thursday night will mark the first time since 2002 and only the second time in the last 13 seasons that the Tigers are scheduled to start the season on the road. LSU began the 2005 season at Arizona State, but Hurricane Katrina forced a postponenment of the scheduled Sept. 3 opener against North Texas and the Tigers-Sun Devils game Sept. 10 was also moved to Tempe, Ariz. LSU claimed a 35-31 victory in Miles' debut with the Tigers.
LSU's other road openers of somewhat recent memory were at Texas A&M (33-17 loss in Gerry DiNardo's debut) in '95 and Virginia Tech (26-8 Tiger defeat) in 2002.
Croom speaks
Sylvester Croom spoke on the SEC call about an hour after Miles. Here are some of his general comments:
On the opener: "We've had excellent work through training camp. We're excited about opening the season at home on national TV against a great football team like LSU. We're fortunate to have them at home. It's a great challenge and a great opportunity."
On the atmosphere on campus: "Our students are very excited. There's a great deal of electricity in the air."
On State's running game and the prospect of a backfield of 240-pound Anthony Dixon and 275-pound Jeremy Jones: "We'll do a lot of things in the running game and have a lot of variations. We should be able to run downhill effectively."
On the need to improve on consecutive three-win seasons to keep the fans happy: "We need to improve on that to keep me happy. That's all I really worry about. ... As far as job security and those things, you have no job security as a head coach. Most of the jobs I've lost have come when we've had winning seasons."
On motivation after LSU's 49-17 win against State in '06: "It shows us that if we're not ready to play from the first whistle, (falling behind 35-0) could happen again because they're an explosive team."
Lunch time
Some teams are out of sync in openers, even in victory. And the SEC can relate as it experienced some first-week issues on the media teleconference. Technical problems prevented Georgia's Mark Richt from receiving any questions following his opening remarks.
"I guess this means I can take an early lunch?" Richt asked. "I've got a burrito waiting for me."
Richt did try to wait out the delay before an SEC official told him he could go. Before Richt left, he made one more note about the silence on the phone lines.
"This is the most peace I've had in a long time," Richt said.
2theadvocate.com Sports Editor
Posted 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2007
LSU head football coach Les Miles kicked off the SEC's inaugural edition of weekly coaches' teleconferences for 2007, and there wasn't any bulletin-board material. His Mississippi State counterpart, Sylvester Croom, also kept his comments close to the vest one day before Tigers and Bulldogs open the season in Starkville, Miss.
Here's a rough roundup of Miles comments to the general questions from the media:
On Matt Flynn: "He's been a contributor right on through. He's completed very well for the job over the last two years ... His leadership is very evident ... He just has to play very comfortably within the scheme."
On scheduling philosopies: "I don't think SEC schools have to load their schedules with nationally ranked opponents to get strength of schedule up."
On Miss. State's offense: "Conceptually, they're very good ...The quarterback appears to make good decisions. The running back seems to gives them a lot of yards after contact. They have a veteran offensive line. And they have a quality receiving corps ... If you watch the film, you can see Mississippi State has a lot of talent, they're well-coached and we expect a tremendous game from them."
Why his team should be ready to play Miss. State: "It's the first game ... And the evidence of improvement Mississippi State made at the back end of the season."
As for LSU's opener, Thursday night will mark the first time since 2002 and only the second time in the last 13 seasons that the Tigers are scheduled to start the season on the road. LSU began the 2005 season at Arizona State, but Hurricane Katrina forced a postponenment of the scheduled Sept. 3 opener against North Texas and the Tigers-Sun Devils game Sept. 10 was also moved to Tempe, Ariz. LSU claimed a 35-31 victory in Miles' debut with the Tigers.
LSU's other road openers of somewhat recent memory were at Texas A&M (33-17 loss in Gerry DiNardo's debut) in '95 and Virginia Tech (26-8 Tiger defeat) in 2002.
Croom speaks
Sylvester Croom spoke on the SEC call about an hour after Miles. Here are some of his general comments:
On the opener: "We've had excellent work through training camp. We're excited about opening the season at home on national TV against a great football team like LSU. We're fortunate to have them at home. It's a great challenge and a great opportunity."
On the atmosphere on campus: "Our students are very excited. There's a great deal of electricity in the air."
On State's running game and the prospect of a backfield of 240-pound Anthony Dixon and 275-pound Jeremy Jones: "We'll do a lot of things in the running game and have a lot of variations. We should be able to run downhill effectively."
On the need to improve on consecutive three-win seasons to keep the fans happy: "We need to improve on that to keep me happy. That's all I really worry about. ... As far as job security and those things, you have no job security as a head coach. Most of the jobs I've lost have come when we've had winning seasons."
On motivation after LSU's 49-17 win against State in '06: "It shows us that if we're not ready to play from the first whistle, (falling behind 35-0) could happen again because they're an explosive team."
Lunch time
Some teams are out of sync in openers, even in victory. And the SEC can relate as it experienced some first-week issues on the media teleconference. Technical problems prevented Georgia's Mark Richt from receiving any questions following his opening remarks.
"I guess this means I can take an early lunch?" Richt asked. "I've got a burrito waiting for me."
Richt did try to wait out the delay before an SEC official told him he could go. Before Richt left, he made one more note about the silence on the phone lines.
"This is the most peace I've had in a long time," Richt said.
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