LSU Coach Ed Orgeron Says Florida Postponement was a "Good Thing" for Program
Many of the stories last week after LSU's matchup with Florida was postponed were driven on how the extra few days to heal and work on the early season struggles was a blessing in disguise. On Monday, coach Ed Orgeron said that while the team was prepared for the matchup against Florida one way or the other, the extra few days to get right were extremely beneficial for the LSU players and coaches.
"I've come to find out talking to Jack [Marucci] our players were tired, our players were beat up and they needed the time off," Orgeron said. "It seemed like our guys came back today reenergized, we had a few guys that needed the weekend to get a little bit better. We need to build off of this because we had two extra days on South Carolina."
Orgeron understands how important this game is for the Tigers' 2020 season. It's an opportunity, particularly given the extra week's rest, the purple and gold will need to capitalize on. There were many areas the team addressed last week after the postponement of the Florida game that it was able to spend additional time on, including fundamentals, miscommunication and tackling.
The issues on defense were a little more complex as the Tigers were out of position multiple times in the loss at Missouri, something that Orgeron chalks up to miscommunication on the field. There were a few times where the communication was lacking to the field but most of the issues the Tigers have had stem from the miscommunication on the field.
"The whole week was about fixing LSU, we had a lot of things to fix," Orgeron said. "We were shooting ourselves in the foot, it's all about us making mistakes. Communication, not having the right gap, out of line on formations, not making the proper calls. It all comes down to communication, simplification and what our guys can handle. I think this week we did a lot of soul searching on what we're telling the guys, how we're telling them. It's not how much we [coaches] know, it's how much they know."
On offense, Orgeron said the first area the unit addressed was goal line and how to be more effective once reaching the five-yard line. Third down was also an area the offense wanted to focus on and with no gameplan to study for and implement, LSU was able to really dig in and find some answers.
With potentially having to rely on a freshman quarterback this weekend, the results might not look the same against the Gamecocks but Orgeron assures the offense feels it's found some answers down on the goal line.
Orgeron really challenged his team last week to hit the restart button and come in with more energy and focus as the team reaches the heart of its SEC schedule. He believes that starts with the mindset in practice and looking back on the losses to Mississippi State and Missouri, there were some up and down practices the week before.
"We should be rested, I told the guys to come to work with a positive mindset," Orgeron said. "Let's give our very best in practice because when you go back and you don't play well, you gotta look at your practices. It's not more or less being fired up on Saturday but being fired up today and getting better today. We've got a lot of improvement to make on LSU."
