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LSU’s Ed Orgeron on Alabama: ‘There will be bigger games down the road for us’

At his weekly Monday press conference, LSU head football coach Ed Orgeron seemed to downplay his top-ranked team’s matchup at No. 2 Alabama this coming Saturday.

Asked at one point whether confidence, and a confident quarterback like the Tigers’ star quarterback Joe Burrow, gives LSU an advantage, Orgeron responded, “No question.”

“We have been looking forward to this game, but we’re not going to treat this game different than any other game,” the coach added in his distinct voice. “This is the next game in our schedule — there will be bigger games down the road for us.”

He continued, “But we understand — we have respect for Alabama — we understand what they do well, we understand what we do well. It’s going to be a great game.”

Soon thereafter, Orgeron was asked if he has learned any lessons from his previous games against the Tide that he is using to prepare LSU this time around.

“Yeah, you know, don’t over-hype it,” he advised. “There’s going to be enough hype out there. Just, you know, stick to the fundamentals.”

The next question pushed back on the notion that this was just another game, asking the coach to define the stakes realistically.

“Well, SEC championship, SEC West, going to the SEC championship, having a chance to be in the college football playoffs, having a chance to win the National Championship,” Orgeron rattled off. “I mean, that’s — but that’s for us as every game in the SEC.”

“I mean, to get to where you want to go, it seems like you have to go undefeated — you have to beat Alabama, you have to keep on going and then you have to win the SEC championship,” he continued. “Then you have to get to the college football playoffs. So if you start thinking about all that stuff it becomes overwhelming for your football team. But we know what’s at stake, and we don’t talk about that. Today is going to be tell-the-truth Monday. I’m going to talk more about the Tiger Bowl than anything, about the guys that played well, because I want our guys loose and relaxed and go play our football game.”

Watch Orgeron’s press conference:

Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn

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