If you are wondering why it matters to LSU that the Big East 2011 football schedule was released, it’s because the Tigers travel to Morgantown to face West Virginia on Saturday, Sept. 24. The Big East announced that the LSU-West Virginia game will be televised nationally on either ESPN or ESPN2.  The kickoff time for the game wasn’t announced, and according to the Big East, the time won’t be determined until 12 days before the game. The Mountaineers travel to face Maryland the week before the LSU game and then face Bowling Green the following week.

The offseason number shuffle has taken place for the Tigers and here’s a look at some of the players changing numbers in 2011:

RB Alfred Blue will wear No. 4 (moving from No. 24)

CB Tyrann Mathieu will wear No. 7 (moving from No. 14)

RB Spencer Ware will wear No. 11 (moving from No. 16)

DB Tharold Simon will wear No. 24 (moving from No. 26)

PK Drew Alleman will wear No. 30 (moving from No. 38)

The newcomers who are joining the Tigers for spring practice  have been issued the following numbers:

QB Zack Mettenberger – No. 8

RB Kenny Hilliard – No. 27

DT Anthony Johnson – No. 56

LSU spring practice gets underway on Friday, March 11 and concludes with the annual Spring Game on Saturday, April 9.

Now that National Signing Day has come and gone, LSU coaches will now turn their attention to spring football practice, which starts in just over a month on March 11. The Tigers will practice a total of 15 times (the number that’s allowed by the NCAA) in a 5-week span, culminating with the annual National L-Club Spring Game at 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 9. The spring game will give fans their first peek at quarterback Zach Mettenberger along with early enrollees in running back Kenny Hilliard and defensive tackle Anthony “Freak” Johnson.

The following is the list of LSU’s spring practice dates, which are subject to change:

Week 1: March 11, 12

Week 2: March 15, 17, 19

Week 3: March 22, 24, 26

Week 4: March 29, 31, April 2

Week 5: April 5, 6, 7, 9 (Spring Game)

LSU cornerback Patrick Peterson was a finalist for the 2010 Bronko Nagurski Trophy on Monday night at the Westin Hotel in Charlotte, N.C. The award, presented to college football's best defensive player, went to Clemson's Da'Quan Bowers. Peterson was one of five finalists for the award. The event was the first of Peterson's tour stops across the country for national college football awards. He will be in Orlando at Disney World on Thursday night for the ESPN College Football Awards. Watch video of tonight's Nagurski Awards with Patrick.

(download)

Click here to download:

2010_Bronko_Nagurski_Trophy_Finalists_Banquet_Patrick_Peterson_LSU.mp4 (43.71 MB)

As LSU heads into its final home game of the season against Ole Miss, here’s a quick look at how the Tigers have fared on fourth-down conversions under Les Miles.

Year                Overall           Pct.      Nat’l Rank     at Tiger Stadium       SEC games at Tiger Stadium

2005                8-of-11            72.7     6th                   2-of-2                          2-of-2 

2006                13-of-17          76.5     3rd                  8-of-10                        5-of-7

2007                13-of-16          81.3     1st                   9-of-11                        8-of-8

2008                7-of-18            38.9     87th                 6-of-12                        4-of-6

2009                3-of-12            25.0     112th               2-of-7                          2-of-5 

2010                10-of-11          90.9     2nd                  8-of-8                          3-of-3 

TOTALS        54-of-85          63.5                             35-of-50 (70.0 pct)     24-of-31 (77.4 pct.)

As you can see, fourth downs aren’t just for punting anymore as Miles and the Tigers have taken full advantage of that extra down over the last six years. We’ll have to wait to see how many “fourth-and-Les” opportunities present itself today against Ole Miss.

LSU surged five spots to No. 6 in the USA Today Coaches’ Poll on Sunday morning following its 24-21 win over Alabama. The improved the Tigers to 8-1 overall and kept them in the hunt for both the SEC and national title.

LSU moved past Ohio State, Nebraska, Alabama, Utah, and Oklahoma in the poll. The Tigers are likely to be ranked in the top six in the BCS Standings, which will be released later today. LSU plays its final non-conference game of the season on Saturday, hosting Louisiana-Monroe at 6 p.m. in Tiger Stadium.

Oregon retained the top spot in the poll, followed by Auburn, TCU, Boise State and Wisconsin. Other SEC teams in the poll include Alabama at No. 12, Arkansas at No. 14, Mississippi State at No. 18, South Carolina at No. 22, and Florida at No. 24.

LSU leads the nation with four wins over ranked opponents this year – North Carolina, West Virginia, Florida, and Alabama.

USA Today Coaches Poll – Sunday, November 7

1.                 Oregon (9-0)                                     1463                                    1                                 50

  2.               Auburn (10-0)                                  1389                                    2                                    4

  3.               TCU (10-0)                                        1340                                    4                                    2

  4.               Boise State (8-0)                               1330                                    3                                    3

  5.               Wisconsin (8-1)                               1184                                    7                                    0

  6.               LSU (8-1)                                           1153                                    11                                 0

  7.               Ohio State (8-1)                                1123                                    8                                    0

  8.               Nebraska (8-1)                                 1067                                    10                                 0

  9.               Stanford (8-1)                                   1058                                    12                                 0

  10.            Michigan State (9-1)                         876                                    15                                 0

  11.            Oklahoma State (8-1)                       832                                    18                                 0

  12.            Alabama (7-2)                                    791                                    5                                    0

  13.            Iowa (7-2)                                            779                                    16                                 0

  14.            Arkansas (7-2)                                   696                                    19                                 0

  15.            Utah (8-1)                                            659                                    6                                    0

  16.            Oklahoma (7-2)                                 569                                    9                                    0

  17.            Virginia Tech (7-2)                            563                                    20                                 0

  18.            Mississippi State (7-2)                     477                                    21                                 0

  19.            Arizona (7-2)                                      403                                    13                                 0

  20.            Missouri (7-2)                                     395                                    14                                 0

  21.            Nevada (8-1)                                       328                                    23                                 0

  22.            South Carolina (6-3)                         151                                    17                                 0

  23.            Central Florida (7-2)                           99                                    not ranked                 0

  24.            Florida (6-3)                                          85                                    not ranked                 0

  25.            Texas A&M (6-3)                                 79                                    not ranked                 0

LSU defensive tackle Drake Nevis is having one of those year’s most players can only dream about. For starters, he’s one of the standouts on an LSU football team that is 7-0 overall and ranked No. 6 in the BCS Standings. LSU will get a chance to improve its ranking on Saturday when the Tigers head to The Plains to take on fourth-ranked Auburn at 2:30 p.m. on CBS.

Nevis’, along with senior linebacker Kelvin Sheppard, are the undisputed leaders on an LSU defense that currently ranks first in the SEC in total yards allowed (242 yards per game), rushing defense (83.6 yards per game) and passing defense (158.6 yards per game).

Nevis has been one of the big reasons for LSU’s dominance on the defensive side of the ball this year as he’s third on the team with 38 tackles, and ranks second in the SEC in both tackles for losses (11.5) and sacks (5.0). He’s also added an interception, forced two fumbles, recorded a safety and had a quarterback hurry.

To put Nevis’ numbers in perspective, we pulled the numbers through seven games for the two most dominant defensive lineman in college football in recent history – LSU’s Glenn Dorsey in 2007 and Nebraska’s Ndamukong Suh in 2009.

As a senior in 2007, Dorsey became the most decorated defensive player in school history, winning the Outland, Lombardi, Nagurski, and Lott Trophies on his way to leading the Tigers to the national championship that year. Su, a Heisman Trophy finalist last year, claimed the Outland, Lombardi, Bednarik and Nagurski Trophies in 2009.

Now seven games into the year, Nevis’ overall numbers top both Dorsey’s and Suh’s stats at the same point of the season that made them two of the most dominating players in college football. Here’s a look at the comparisons thru 7 games of all three players:

Player             Tackles  TFL                   Sacks Other
Nevis (2010)    38          11.5-47 yards   5.0-35 yards 1 int.,  2 forced fumbles, 1 safety
Suh (2009)       44          10.0-42 yards   4.0-30 yards     
Dorsey (2007)  37          5.5.-35 yards    4.0-32 yards 1 fumble recovery, 2 QB hurries

Games like the one on Saturday between LSU and Auburn in Jordan-Hare Stadium are one of the reasons players choose to come play in the SEC. It’s a nationally televised game between the only two remaining undefeated teams in the conference. It’s a game that will have not only SEC title implications, but will have some sort of effect on the national championship picture. With both teams at 7-0 overall, 4-0 in SEC play and ranked among the top 10 teams in the nation, you can feel the buzz around campus, around town and especially out on the practice field – these players have worked long and hard to get to this point and now they are reaping some of the benefits from that work. Coach Miles doesn’t hide the fact that this week’s game is a big one and it’s refreshing for a coach to take that approach. He too recognizes that players work awful hard – year round – not to be able to have some fun when taking the field on Saturday.

The fun isn’t just limited to the players and the coaches. It’s also a lot of fun to handle the publicity for a team that is ranked No. 6 in the BCS. Phone calls, emails, text messages come in from media from all over the country wanting information on the LSU Tigers. The national media attention has ramped up in recent weeks thanks in part to the late-game heroics to beat Florida in Gainesville and the score with no time left on the clock to beat Tennessee the week before. The hard part is trying to accommodate all of the requests, which takes some prioritizing. There’s only so much time the players have outside of practice and class and as a PR staff it’s our job to make sure that these interviews don’t interfere with their school work or get in the way of the game plan.

Even though we filtered through dozens of interview requests, it still makes for a busy week for both Coach Miles and players in attempt to take advantage of the media attention. As part of their weekly routine, Coach Miles and players meet with the media at his press luncheon followed by interviews with the local scribes after practice on Tuesday on Wednesday. With the added attention of this game, requests this week have reached a season-high as the players have taken part in interviews with the New York Times, ESPN College GameDay, many of the writers who cover Auburn, the Associated Press, Sporting News, ESPN.com as well as on-camera interviews with CBS which will be aired as part of the telecast on Saturday.

Coach Miles’ interviews have ranged from appearing on ESPN Radio with Scott Van Pelt, Sporting News Radio with Tim Brando, and sit-down interviews with FoxSports.net and the New York Times. Miles will take part in an interview with ESPN upon the teams’ arrival at the hotel on Friday and will then participate in a conference call, along with selected players and the two coordinators, with the CBS television crew afterwards.

Things won’t slow down for the Tigers until kickoff on Saturday and then, win or lose, the process starts all over again. The only difference is that next week is an open date for LSU, which means two weeks of hype leading up to the Alabama game on Nov. 6 in Tiger Stadium. 

Despite the 33-29 win over then-No. 12 Florida on Saturday night, LSU remained No. 9 in this week’s  USA Today Coaches’ Poll, which was released on Sunday morning. With the win over Florida, LSU ran its record to 6-0 overall and remained in first place in the SEC Western Division with a 4-0 league mark. Ohio State moved to the No. 1 spot in the poll, taking over for Alabama, who lost for the first time this year to South Carolina. LSU returns to action on Saturday, hosting McNeese State at 6 p.m. in Tiger Stadium.

http://espn.go.com/college-football/rankings?SPSID=27815&SPID=2164&DB...

Check out this video of LSU's march from the hotel to the field prior to tonight's kickoff against Florida.

(download)

Click here to download:

LSU_March_to_the_Field_at_Florida.mp4 (15.1 MB)