Ed Orgeron Weekly Press Conference

Opening Comments                                                             

Obviously, we are excited to start our preparation against a very, very good LSU football team. Looking back on last week we feel like we had a very productive off week. Our coaches had four days of evaluation. We hit the road Wednesday, and some of us did not get back until yesterday from traveling. We went over what we did over the four days, and it was very productive. We had some great days. We went to see what we needed to see. It was our last days of evaluation, and we are excited about the reports that came back. We are looking forward to starting a great season of recruiting. Our players are rested and ready to go. We are excited that we had such a productive black shirt scrimmage. We watched the film as coaches this morning and graded it and we will give it to our guys. Starting the week, Greg Hardy, over the two weeks, has done everything that we asked him to do, and we are going to reinstate him on the team. He will be at practice with us today, so we are excited about that and we expect him to do very, very well with us. This is our last game for 16 seniors at home. I know those guys are going to be fired up. We always get fired up to play LSU, and we are looking forward to this week’s practice. We are going to practice today in shells, so it will be a little different than a Monday practice. We will practice heavy in the beginning of the week and lighter towards the end of the week.

Looking at LSU the thing that stands out is their defense. It is probably the best defense we have played since we have been here. They have seven seniors on their defense and four juniors. It seems like we have been watching them for a long time. They have an outstanding defensive line, probably one of the best players in they country in Glenn Dorsey. He is an active player. He is very, very good along with Marlon Favorite. They are very strong in the middle and only give up 66 yards rushing. Those guys command double teams and make plays in the backfield. Kirston Pittman and Tyson Jackson are very good on the four-man rush on third down. Over 60 percent of their pressure comes from four-man rush, which is highly unusual. They have very fast linebackers in Darry Beckwith, Ali Highsmith and Luke Sanders. They are some good players. We look forward to the challenge of moving the football on them. Last year we played very well against LSU, but it was not good enough to win the game. I think our guys are going to have a lot of confidence going into this game knowing that we can play with these guys. On offense, the No. 1 thing that comes to mind is speed. They lost some receivers last year but they replaced them with a Mississippi junior college guy in Demetrius Byrd, and he is very fast. Brandon LaFell, a sophomore, is having a good year, and Early Doucet is just a tremendous player. We saw the fourth down play he made against Alabama and looks like he is the go to guy when they need a play, and he is a great football player. Matt Flynn is very effective. He is a smart football player. We played against him early in his career, and we think he is a good quarterback. We know that Ryan Perrilloux can come in there and run the option with them, so we are going to prepare for both of those guys. Jacob Hester is a tough running back, plays with a lot of heart, makes a lot of yards on second effort. He knows exactly what he is going to do. We know Keiland Williams very well. We recruited him, and he is a great young man. They throw a lot of screens to Keiland, and he makes some big plays. Charles Scott is another tremendous tailback, and they put in Trindon Holliday who is one of the fastest players in the United States. So they have a lot of speed there. They have a very strong offensive line. Their center Brett Helms is the best center we have seen this year. Watching him on film, he is very physical and very strong. We all know Herman Johnson. He is another one of those guys that is very strong. On special teams, they have a lot of athletes, have a lot of depth, and they have a lot of speed. But I tell you this, we will be ready to play them. It is a CBS nationally-televised game with the No. 1 team in the country coming in, and I know we will be ready for the challenge and I can not wait to play them.

Q:  How much do you relish playing the No. 1 team?

It is a great opportunity for us, first of all to beat LSU. I don’t care where they are ranked. That’s why you come to Ole Miss, to beat LSU. They being the number one team in the country does add a lot to it, but we are not going to make a big deal out of it this week. We are not going to overhype that. They are coming to our house, and we felt that we did not make the play on the final play last year to beat them. Our team is going to be ready to play against them. It is a big rivalry for us, and we have a lot of Louisiana people on our staff. This game means a lot to us, and so that’s enough.

Q:  Is there any worry of conditioning with Greg Hardy?

I think he is going to be in good condition. I thought you were going to ask me if I was going to start him. I think he is going to be fine. He is a well-conditioned athlete. I am sure he has been conditioning on his own, and I think he should be fine.

Q:  Talk about this group of seniors.

They have been with me now for my three years. All of those guys are on track to graduate, and some have graduated already. They are tremendous young men, and we are going to miss them. They mean a lot to our program.

Q:  What was Greg Hardy’s reaction when he was reinstated?

Greg is ready to be back on the team.

Q:  Can you beat the LSU defensive ends with single blockers?

Sure, we have to block them. We have to get in there with the attitude that we can block them. I do not think you ever go into a game with any other attitude. Our guys will be ready. I think John Jerry has the capabilities of being an outstanding lineman. Michael Oher does too. Those guys are going to have to answer the bell. I am going to challenge them this week. I’m sure they can answer the challenge. I feel confident that those guys are going to be ready to play.

Q:  Could Glenn Dorsey be a Heisman candidate?

I think he is. He has tremendous physical attributes. The thing I like about him is he came back for his senior year. That means a lot to me. I think that guys should stay their four years and graduate. This guy chose to come back, and I think that says a lot about his character. He has six sacks. You look at Peria Jerry, and his numbers are similar to his.  I think that he is a dominating football player, and I would love to see a defensive lineman win the Heisman and I would vote for him.

Q:  What would it mean to this season to beat LSU?

It’s one game at a time. We have LSU and Mississippi State left, two very important games. We’ll take them one at a time. Obviously this would mean a lot to our program. It would mean a lot in recruiting. It would mean a lot to our football players. Those are the most important things that I’m worried about.  

Q: What does it mean to you personally to play LSU?

I have a lot of good friends in Louisiana. Obviously I was born and raised there. I still have some very close friends that are LSU fans. There are some very good people there that I’m very close to. I’m very appreciative of all the opportunities I had in Louisiana.

Q:  Could we see both Adams and Schaeffer at quarterback?

We could do some of that. I’m not going to tell you our game plan, but we could see both players.

Q:  Having grown up an LSU fan, what is the perception of the Ole Miss-LSU rivalry from an LSU perspective?

I signed with LSU. Not only did I grow up a fan, but I signed a full scholarship to play there and spent the early part of my freshman year there. So I kind of know what it is to play there. I remember Archie Manning playing. I remember those games. I was small, but I remember them. Ole Miss and LSU was a big rivalry. Johnny Vaught and Charlie Mac and all those guys. Paul Dietzel. That’s what I grew up with. I have a lot of respect for it. I just remember some great games.

Q: Do you think the rivalry has accounted for the close games in recent years?

I think our guys get up to play LSU. We have Louisiana people here. We love to play LSU. We didn’t play well that first year. Last year we went down there and played well. This is a game you have to play with high emotions, high intensity and high energy. They’re a very good football team. They’ve found a way to win close games Florida, Auburn, Alabama. They took chances, and they won you have to give them credit.

Q: Why has this team played LSU so close?

This is our third time to play LSU. The first year we didn’t have success against LSU. We went in there last year and had a lot of fakes. We had an onsides kick. We had a lot of things go our way. Our guys were really ready. We’ll have to get up to that level. We have to take shots. We have to take chances. We’ll have to be on our A-plus game to play with these guys.

Q: What have you thought of LSU’s coaching decisions?

I heard Coach Miles say this season they were playing for the national championship, and that every game could be for the national championship. He had the right idea in saying you had to take chances. There are going to be a lot of close games. I remember the year we won the national championship. We were down to Stanford 20-7 or something. You have to take shots. There will be a lot of close games you have to win when you don’t play your best. So I think he has the right idea.

Q:  Is this a fun game for your coaches?

We’re rested and ready to go. We all enjoy playing LSU. We all respect them. We know all their players. We recruited every one of them mostly. It’s just a good rivalry for us. It’s a school that we respect, but it is a school that we definitely want to beat.

Q:  Does this team enjoy playing the role of a spoiler?

I think this team would enjoy a win, whatever you want to call it. We enjoy having LSU here as the No. 1 team. We enjoy having them being in Vaught-Hemingway. We enjoy it being on CBS. We’ve come very close this year. We think that with a couple of more plays and things going our way, that we can win this football game.

Q:  Is your approach any different with the team after a bye week?

Usually Monday we go out very light. Today we’ll go out a little heavier. The players basically had the last week off. I think they’ll come back ready. I imagine most of them watched games this week. I imagine most are hungry to come back. I think we will have a very good practice today. We should have a very spirited practice. I expect that.

Q:  Do you think you can get pressure with your defensive line?

There’s no doubt in my mind. We know we are ready and have a gameplan for our third-down rushes. We feel we have a very formidable defensive line that can do a good job. Obviously we have to get it done, but we feel confident we can get pressure on their quarterback. The thing we have to do is to put them in a situation to throw and you have to stop a very good running attack. I think their running attack is a lot better than it was last year. Last year we more or less played pass coverage. This year we have to be able to tackle, to stop run and to stop the screen game. There are a couple different obstacles compared to last year.

Q:   Did you get excited when you saw LSU was going to be No. 1?

I’m not going to get overly excited about something like that. I’m not going to make that such a big deal. Playing LSU is enough for me. I want our guys to have a level head throughout the week. Again, if they are one or 10, it does not matter if we are playing LSU. We have to prepare very well and play very well just to keep up with these guys. We’ll have to have some things that go our way to beat this team, so we have a tough task ahead of us.

The University of Mississippi Athletics

Related News

Related Videos