LSU stays loose before showdown with Alabama

BATON ROUGE - They look at their coach. He is almost always smiling or about to. He is habitually happy. He forever has something funny to say, or at least says something in a funny way. There is a game Saturday, but it's going to be fun, he says. Embrace it, he tells them.
Then they turn on the television, or look at a paper or the Internet or talk to their family and friends or classmates, and suddenly Saturday is:

THE BIGGEST FOOTBALL GAME IN HISTORY.

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"It's really hard not to sit there and think about what's at stake," LSU linebacker Ryan Baker said. "It's going to be the biggest game any of us have ever played. But I really feel like this team has something different about them. They really understand the situation."

It is No. 1 LSU (8-0, 5-0 Southeastern Conference) versus No. 2 Alabama (8-0, 5-0 SEC) at 7 p.m. Saturday on CBS in the first regular season matchup of Nos. 1 and 2 in the history of the SEC, which started playing football in 1933.
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"I went home last weekend, and everybody said, 'Don't come back unless you come home with a win,'" safety Brandon Taylor said.

"I think that the whole world is hyping this up a whole lot more than the players are. "To us, it's just another football game. But to the world, this is like," defensive end Sam Montgomery said, then paused and altered his voice to sound like a wrestling announcer and said:

"THE DOMINANT SHOWDOWN BETWEEN NO. 1 AND NO. 2!"

It is the "Days of Our Lives" with LSU coach Les Miles as the friendly, family man protagonist and Alabama coach Nick Saban as the evil foil who divorced the LSU family for NFL riches only to return to the same neighborhood as a blood rival.
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"It's like a whole soap opera," Montgomery said. "There's a traditional rivalry between LSU and Alabama that we just fall into. I think that the players from both teams, we're not as into that as the fans. We just want a great, competitive balance in this game."

Defensive tackle Michael Brockers is trying to treat LSU-Alabama like it was LSU-Auburn or LSU-Tennessee, but it is growing more and more difficult as the game gets closer. The fact that there was an extra week without a game last week did not help that cause.

"Everybody's focused. Everybody's ready," he said. "We've been ready. You're trying to keep it at a norm so anxiety won't build up because you don't want to mess up if you're thinking too much. But then you keep thinking, 'It's No. 1 versus No. 2 in Tuscaloosa,' and when you look at the TV, there are commercials about it all over the place. We're trying to keep it at a norm. We're trying to keep it as one game."

Miles has offered comic relief.

"He's a great guy," defensive tackle Bennie Logan said. "He's always loose, having fun, making little jokes. You can never tell if he's seriou2011 NHL all star Jerseyss or if he's stressed out or anything like that because of his demeanor. He's always a great guy to be around and always happy."

That changed a tad during the first practice of game week on Monday, though.

"He was pretty much intense, very focused," Brockers said. "He was different than last week. Everything has to be perfect in this game, and I feel like that's the way to approach this game. I feel like the players, we're also in that mode because we know that this is a big game. We can't have any letdowns because those guys will take advantage of it. When it comes down to it, it's the tcheap nhl jerseysam that has the less mistakes that will win."

And Miles and LSU have not won a game like this - one with championship implications - since 2007 when it won 41-34 at Alabama. LSU went on to win the SEC West, the SEC and the national championship that season. It has won no championships since, losing as an undefeated No. 3 team in 2008 to eventual national champion Florida, losing as an undefeated No. 4 in 2009 to Florida and as a one-loss No. 9 to eventual national champion Alabama in 2009, and losing as an undefeated No. 6 to eventual national champion Auburn last season.

"We've played in a lot of big games, but my goal as a player is to win a championship," Baker said. "We haven't accomplished that yet. I'm hoping tcheap jerseyshat this team can take that next step."

Taylor, a senior like Baker, does not want to leave LSU empty handed.

"This is really what all of us came here for - to take that next step to a championship," he said. "Like I've been here four years, and I still don't have any hardware. So I need something to take for my grandkids. That's going to motivate us a lot."http://halotrialmod.forumotion.co.uk/t25-topic