Taking care of business

• By RANDY ROSETTA
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Nov 1, 2009

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On a cool fall night dripping with nostalgia, the No. 9-ranked LSU football team honored its program’s past by putting on hard hats and delivering a good night’s work Saturday at Tiger Stadium.

There weren’t many bells and whistles, nor were they needed as the Tigers methodically churned past outmanned Tulane 42-0.

When the Tiger Stadium clock hit 0:00, November was finally only a few hours away — a month that will undoubtedly define LSU’s 2009 season.

The crowd offered up its biggest ovation of the night when Billy Cannon stood on the field for a high-definition replay of his famous Halloween punt return, with Mike the Tiger’s rendition of “Thriller” a close second.

As for the game, there wasn’t much drama — which was apparently exactly the recipe the LSU coaches were seeking. The goal was simply to get better, something the Tigers did the week before against Auburn and duplicated against Tulane.

“In all three phases, we needed this game,” LSU coach Les Miles said. “We understand that it’s just a step, just another game, one that we needed to finish the way it did as we go forward. We’re looking forward to the rest of the season to play well and play our best.”

Now, the Tigers can shift their attention, once and for all, to a showdown Saturday at No. 2-ranked Alabama and former LSU coach Nick Saban in a matchup with massive ramifications in the Southeastern Conference and on the national level.

The Tigers (7-1, 4-1 SEC) head to Tuscaloosa a game behind the Crimson Tide (8-0, 5-0) in the West Division standings. Although there will still be three weeks left in both teams’ seasons, the winner will seize the upper hand for a spot in the SEC Championship Game.

“Each opponent is different and possesses a very specific challenge,” Miles said. “Next week’s opponent is certainly different than the team we just played.”

Thinking about the Tide had to wait, though.

First, the Tigers had to grapple with Tulane for one of the last times in an old series, a challenge that was there all week as Miles and his coaches worked to keep the players’ attention focused on the Green Wave.

In his postgame media session, Miles took umbrage with newspaper coverage leading up to the battle with Tulane, grousing that looking beyond the Wave to the collision with Alabama was never an issue.

“We legitimately avoided next week because, frankly, we needed to improve this week and play well this week and this team did that,” Miles said.