LSU hoping to get back on track on road at Miss. State

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, October 4, 2005

BATON ROUGE — After playing just one game for the first four weeks of the football season fourth-ranked LSU will now play its second game in a six-day span on Saturday when the Tigers travel to Starkville to face Mississippi State in a battle of Southeastern Conference Western Division rivals.

Kickoff for Saturday’s contest is set for 1:30 p.m. from Davis Wade Stadium on the Mississippi State campus. The game will be televised on TigerVision, the school’s in-hour pay-per-view network. In addition, the game can be heard on the LSU Sports Radio Network as well as in the LSUsports.net’s Geaux Zone.

The Tigers bring a 1-1 overall mark and an 0-1 league record into Saturday’s contest following a bitter 30-27 overtime loss to Tennessee on Monday in Tiger Stadium. In that game, the Vols rallied from 21-points down to force overtime before eventually pulling out the victory.

Mississippi State takes a 2-2 overall mark and an 0-2 conference record into the game as the Bulldogs are coming off a 23-10 setback to Georgia last week. The Bulldogs have collected non-conference wins against Murray State and Tulane this year.

Saturday’s game will mark the first time since 1973 that LSU will have to play two games in a six-day span. That year, the Tigers beat Mississippi State on a Saturday night in Tiger Stadium before dropping a 21-7 decision to Alabama in Tiger Stadium on Thanksgiving night.

Despite the quick turnaround, LSU coach Les Miles has said his team has had a good week of practice and is ready to get back on the football field for another game.

“We’ve done a good job of preparing despite the short week,” Miles said. “I think our football team understands that these are extraordinary times.”

I think we have made some adjustments to our own schedule that will enable them to play and enjoy being in Mississippi on Saturday. This team understand how to redirect and rally and we’re looking forward to the opportunity to playing again on Saturday.”

With the short week, the Tigers took Tuesday off from practice, instead watching and making corrections from the Tennessee game. LSU had its first and only full-scale practice on Wednesday, working out for just over two hours, followed by a shorts and shoulder pads practice on Thursday.