We’re moving our notes over from Chomp and Cheer to We Like Sports! Here are notes taken live during Dan Mullen’s press conference with the media on October 1st, 2018. News and notes are expected to cover the the game week leading up to LSU. Apologies for any spelling errors or related – I’ll do my best to go back and correct later:

No new injuries to report, same as last week (whatever that was).

We won a tough game at Mississippi and now we get rewarded by playing a top-5 team in the country. This is always a big game and we have a lot going on around it – Tebow getting inducted into the Ring of Honor, honoring the 2008 Natty team, having a blue out, and building a lot of excitement. Going to be a great weekend and happy to have the other team deal with noise now.

Big recruiting weekend for us coming. A lot of big players come for big games, that’s what they want to see and enjoy when they make visits.

Defense is buying into what they are trying to do (paused to say they were playing ‘great’). Likes that they can rotate players and they’re now starting to see that, by coming out and by having several guys who can play through the game, they can continue to pressure late in the game. Keeping guys fresh is important and our scout teams are doing a great job raising that level of competition to make our team better.

LSU is very physical and going to try to pound the ball, so we need to stay physical

Asked about Coach O – has known him for a while, impressed what he was able to do as an interim head coach and you can see his talent with how well the team is playing right now. You have to admire the way he carries himself; you can learn how to run a team from others, but you can see that he puts his own personality and demeanor on it as well.

Asked about Franks growth – has shown the most development in understanding how to learn and adapt the game plan week to week. Gets how things change slightly and why we are trying to do it against certain teams. Getting through multiple possessions and getting comfortable standing in the pocket is something he (and all) QBs can improve on a lot more moving forward – but guys who do that well and consistently play on Sundays.

We stayed focused and we were able to control field position all day. Their average starting field position was something between the 11 and 13 yard-line on their side of the field, which is fantastic. Good defense, special teams, and sustained drives put us in that position. All these intangibles and small victories stack up and gave us the win even though we didn’t score a lot of points and even lost the turnover battle.

LSU has great defenders who can play man coverage, which makes them very hard to beat and will create a challenge. You have to find ways to win those 1:1 match-ups.

Was great to see CJ McWilliams playing again and getting more confidence each week. Gives us more depth at a position that we really need it.

Expects a sold out, crazy, and loud crowd where the student body really sets the tone on the field. When you have that group of fans really going nuts, it drives the rest of the crowd. Didn’t feel like they had to build the hype as much when they were here before, but can tell that fans are starting to buy in as well and are seeing how these other schools and crowds are packing the place when the Gators come to town.

LSU has had success with Burrow this season – Florida looked more into recruiting players first rather than transfers for the QB position. Felt that going with the three they had was better than bringing someone in over the Summer. Burrow has been a great leader for them though, getting it to the right play makers and controlling the game. They like to control things with the run game.

There are so many aspects to the program that we are still learning and developing. Happiest that there has not been any resistance towards the program and have been willing to buy in. They are now starting to see the physical differences and results that come with buying in to what Mullen and the coaches want to do.

Learning from practices and take from film is crucial is everything they do – building a program isn’t a magic wand, it’s all about showing the players and people around it that commitment to what they want to do has benefits.

Excited to see the 2008 team – they were very talented but had to learn how to play for each other. We lost the one game, but how intense they took that loss and refused to do it again was rare and impressive. Had close games early that season but started to blow guys out as they picked up steam and loved played as #1 versus #2 in the SEC conference game. Being in big games with that team was fun.

Thinks all backs are running effectively for us. They have bought into the rotation and understanding why staying fresh is important. Each back is similar but has a slightly similar style – makes things different for defenses, but not totally different for scheming. They’re all starting to learn all aspects of the position as well, including blocking and pass catching. Being able to wear teams down with our backs is what we want to focus on.

When they game plan each week they always ask themselves if they are putting the players into positions to be successful. The flow of the game can change your original game plan, but knowing what each guy can do for you is important as you adapt and as you coach from the start to end.

Left Utah in 2005 thinking they had the answer to college football with the spread offense – but quickly found out that they didn’t have the personnel to run that style well. So had to learn to adapt – even though the offense works, you need the players to make it work. It’s always better to adapt to the players skills to get the most out of them.

White from LSU is an incredibly physical backer that really separates himself with speed and intelligence. He is a great athlete but is so well studied that he moves even quicker than everyone one else on the field.

Asked about Kyle Pitts – is coming along in practice. Gives you a mismatch as a TE because you can flex him out as an athlete. Thinks he will help them this year and they plan to play him throughout the season to get him in good spots. Want to develop him for the future.

Scarlet’s blocking has been good this season so far – very strong and physical kid, which helps during blitz pickup. It’s hard to do, but his natural strength helps. You see him also learning the offense more and picking things up week to week. All the little things are starting to click for him.

Asked about LSU being ranked 5th in the SEC West in the writers poll to start the season – thinks it’s so hard to pick that early in the season. The margin of error is so thin already between teams, and the unknowns is certain players or injuries really creates uncertainty of. Preseason rankings do nothing but hype people up for college football before it begins. You;re either excited because your team is predicted to be great, or excited because you have a chip on your shoulder. Sometimes doesn’t mind being underrated because then your opponents will under prepare for you sometimes. LSU is the 5th ranked team in the country, so yes they are good and they are going to play harder than anyone else we’ve played so far.

Makes trick plays simple – that one on last Saturday was called ‘Kodak’. We have a bunch, and we practice them all. It’s a risk/reward play so you have to be smart about when you use it. We usually have 3 to 4 that we practice and are ready to run every week. And if one or all of them fit well as the game goes on then we will try them. It’s all about execution more so than play design. We have a lot more in our back pocket. When it works you’re genius and when it doesn’t you’re an idiot.