Although it came across as somewhat
of a negative message, Saban meant it more as a challenge to his team as they
prepare to travel to Florida on Saturday for a showdown with the
Gators.
“When bad things happen to you in
life, in a football game or whatever," Saban said. "I think it's a real test of
your character and your resiliency as a person to see how you handle it and
manage it. Obviously, we've got a lot of things to work on, lot's of things we
can get better at and we're certainly going to try to use this game as an
opportunity for us to learn and to get better. As long as the players stay
committed to what they are trying to do and keep the right attitude, we'll have
a chance to do that."
Saban praised some players’ efforts
in the game, but also felt as if some other players weren’t giving it their
all.
“We had some guys that really
played hard out there today and some guys that really competed,” Saban said. “I
was also disappointed in the way some of the guys were playing especially early
in the game. I thought we had made some progress since the Auburn game, that it was a turning point, but obviously
not. But when things like this happen, players have to dig down deep inside when
negative things happen and try to respond to them in the best possible way. It
will be interesting to see how we respond to this.”
Saban said while a great deal of
people were upset with the outcome of the game, no one felt it more than his
players.
“I know a lot of people are
disappointed," Saban said. “But I can tell you the players are disappointed. I'm
very disappointed; I think our staff is very disappointed. I really had a good
feeling coming into this game, because we had practiced well, we prepared well.
I thought we had a good mindset coming here in terms of how we would go out and
play.”
OOPS: LSU wide
receiver Xavier Carter was one of the nation’s most sought-after freshmen last
year. He was a consensus five-star player and a PARADE All-American. ESPN ranked
him the No. 1 wide receiver in the country.
But he’s still a freshman, and he
made a huge freshman mistake in the third quarter. After the Bulldogs went ahead
31-10, Carter caught a Brandon Coutu kickoff 7 yards deep in the end zone.
Carter looked like he was trying to bluff a return, but he actually returned the
ball to LSU’s 1-yard line before taking a knee.
LSU punted three plays later and
Georgia scored again to make it
38-10. Junior Skyler Green replaced Carter on the ensuing kickoff.
“If that had been Coach Richt,
wooo,” said Georgia’s Fred Gibson, who has
experience returning kickoffs.
- Josh Kendall,
DawgsPost.com
WIDE MARGIN:
Saturday’s loss was the most points allowed by a Nick Saban coached team – 45
points. It was one more point scored than the total Florida posted in a 44-15
thrashing of the Tigers in 2001. It was also the most points scored against LSU
since losing to Florida 56-13 in the 1996 season. It also
marked just the second time under Saban that an opposing team eclipsed the
40-point plateau.
INJURY REPORT: LSU
center Ben Wilkerson suffered the most sever injury of the game when he went
down in the third quarter with a sprained knee. However, he later returned to
action in the game… Craig Davis was one of the other reported injuries as he
suffered a stinger on the back of his left shoulder… Cornerback Corey Webster,
who was just recovering from a hip-pointer, got kicked in the knee, but refused
to leave the game… Kirston Pittman left the game with a thumb injury that was
reported to be nont serious… And by the way, Nick Saban even made the injury
list. When he reported to the postgame press conference, Saban has a one-inch
cut under his right eye. Reportedly, Saban took an accidental elbow to the
cheekbone from running backs coach Derek Dooley.
Game
Notes:
LSU's game captains are 55 Ben
Wilkerson, 58 Lionel Turner, 84 Marcus Spears.
OT Andrew Whitworth (32 straight),
DE Marcus Spears (24), LB Lionel Turner (20), CB Corey Webster (19), C Ben
Wilkerson (19) and CB Travis Daniels (19) all extended their consecutive games
started streak.
With DT Kyle Williams' sack of
Georgia's David Green with 5:40 left
in the second half, LSU extended its streak to 30 consecutive games with at
least one sack.
LSU had two first-time starters on
offense. RB Alley Broussard and FB Jacob Hester each made their first career
start in the Tigers backfield.
QB Marcus Randall had completed
nine straight passes (7-7 against Mississippi State and the first two in today's game)
before throwing an incomplete pass in the second quarter.
Skyler Green moved into ninth-place
on LSU's career punt return yards with his first return of the game, a 16-yard
return in the second quarter. He passed Todd Kinchen (475 career yards from
1989-1991). Green finished the game with 16 return yards and now has 483.
WR Skyler Green extended his streak
to 19 straight games with a reception. He pulled down a pass from QB Marcus
Randall in the first quarter.
WR Dwayne Bowe pulled down his
fifth touchdown reception of the season, an 18-yard pass from QB JaMarcus Russell with 1:23 left in the second quarter. LSU's record for touchdown catches
in a season is 11 set by Devery Henderson in 2003.
WR Xavier Carter recorded his
second touchdown reception of the season, a two-yard pass from Marcus Randall.
It was Randall's third touchdown pass of the year.