BATON ROUGE – Les Miles could have been confused with Santa Claus on Saturday as the LSU head coach was in a giving mood, cutting practice short by 30 minutes and skipping the post-practice conditioning drill for the team.

As a matter of fact, Santa Claus paid a visit to the Tigers on Saturday, spending a few minutes with Miles and the team. The Tigers wrapped up what was their final practice before taking a four-day break by singing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer at the conclusion of the workout.

“I certainly enjoyed practice today,” Miles said. “It was kind of a short practice. It was designed to keep the players fresh. We did not spend too much time on the field, but we got a lot of things done that we needed to get done. There was no point in making practice any longer than it needed to be.

“We sent them off in a festive spirit.”

LSU, which faces Ohio State for the BCS National Championship on Jan. 7 in New Orleans, will report to New Orleans for the title game on Wednesday.

Saturday’s workout was the sixth and final of the week for the Tigers as LSU spent their time during the six practices getting back into a regular season routine. Miles said the Tigers will pick up the tempo as well as starting on the Ohio State game plan when the squad returns from the break.

“What has to happen, is you have to come to speed and you have to understand there has been a couple of weeks without practice,” Miles said. “You need to kick some of the rust off and we did that this week.

“We’re really getting ready to implement game plan a little more sincerely. There was a lot done this week, but we still have a lot to do.”

Miles also took a portion of his post-practice meeting with the media to congratulate the eight LSU football players who received their college degree on Friday. Of LSU’s 25 seniors, 11 have now graduated with the remainder of the class on schedule to graduate by the summer.

“When you have 25 seniors and 11 have graduated to this point and the entire 25 are all on course to graduate, that’s why they come here,” Miles said. “I promise you, when I recruit, if they’re coming to LSU just to play football, they are making a mistake. We’re going to insist that they get their degree. We’re going to insist that they compete in the classroom just like they compete in the playing field. This is about pursuing excellence.”

Of the 11 seniors who have earned their degree thus far, seven are starters. That list includes: quarterback Matt Flynn, fullback Shawn Jordan, punter Patrick Fisher, linebacker Ali Highsmith, defensive end Kirston Pittman, cornerback Jonathan Zenon and tight end Keith Zinger.