With the impending arrival of Hurricane Delta’s arrival on Louisiana’s coast expected either Friday evening or Saturday morning, the Southeastern Conference announced Wednesday that LSU’s scheduled home game with Missouri at 8 p.m. Saturday had been moved to Columbia, Mo.
Kickoff is scheduled for 11 a.m. and will be televised on an ESPN platform.
The change of venue didn’t seem to faze LSU head football coach Ed Orgeron whose team (1-1 overall, 1-1 SEC West) must travel 771 miles to face Missouri (0-2, 0-2 SEC East) at Faurot Field.
“We’re going to keep everything the same,” Orgeron said on the weekly SEC coaches media teleconference. “I don’t know if we’re going to leave Friday night or Thursday night. It all depends. The only thing that’s different is we’re going to practice in Missouri on Friday with a walk-through. They have a convention center with 60 yards, so we can use it.”
Here’s what else Orgeron had to say:
Opening remarks
“Very pleased with the progress we made from week one to week two and I expect the team to make tremendous progress this week. Working on the fundamentals of LSU getting better. Missouri poses a lot of different formations, different offense than we’ve seen in a while. Some two backs, some two tight ends. Boots, waggles, getting on the edge and misdirection. Good on special teams. Our team has been focused. I want to thank our athletic director Scott Woodward for working on getting our game to 11 o’clock. We’re going to travel to Missouri. Don’t blink and hopefully we can get us a big road win.”
On Missouri’s move to new starting quarterback Connor Bazelak
“Good pocket passer. He had 286 yards, 0 touchdowns, 1 interception this season. He’s smart and he can see the field. He’s a really good player.”
On what have been some of biggest challenges this year
“Losing the first game, that was a challenge for next week. It was something we didn’t expect. We didn’t play very well, and I had to take responsibility for that. We saw a tremendous on this team from week one to week two. I think the challenge of losing 19 of 22 starters and getting those guys to play to the LSU standard of performance is the biggest thing we want to do. New coaching staff, we should have made some better adjustments during the game in the first game, we didn’t. We did in the second game. Obviously, we learned how to gel together. This is a new team and we’re going to take it one day at a time.”
On getting to have an 11 a.m. kickoff instead of playing at 8 p.m.
“It would have been very difficult to play an 8 (p.m.) game and travel and come back Sunday morning at 4 o’clock. In talking to our trainers, it takes two days to recover. We play an 11 o’clock game, we’ll be back in Baton Rouge around 6-7 at night. I think our team and coaches will get more rest. That’s a big advantage for us.”
On status of starting left guard position on the offensive line
“Ed (Ingram) didn’t practice yesterday, (he) may come along. He’s very questionable right now. Right now, we have Charles Turner starting at guard in his place.”
On what he remembered most about playing Missouri in his first game as interim coach in 2016
“Excitement. There was excitement in the building. There was a change. I think it was a nice crowd that night. Coming down the Tiger Walk and the electricity. I thought our team played with a lot of energy. We had 600-something yards of offense, we played great defense. Just a wonderful night.”
On how things have progressed during his career over the past four years
“It passed by very fast. I love working at LSU. I come to work every day with a smile on my face. I represent the state of Louisiana and LSU. It’s been phenomenal with the things that we have done, and we’ve still got a ways to go. I think we’re just getting started.”
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