Here are comments from LSU football coach Les Miles from this morning's SEC teleconference with reporters ( audio link here):

Miles: "I like the position my football team's in. They're working hard. They realize that they have to improve to play well. They're coming to the practice field every day with enthusiasm and a want to work. We look forward to playing Florida. It's going to be a big game. Look forward to that this Saturday."

The Gainesville Sun's Pat Dooley asked Miles what makes Death Valley different from other big stadiums with lots of crowd noise.

Miles: "I think our fans are so tied to our players and this team. They know them. They definitely know the number, who they are, what they play, what they look like. Every play is followed with a snap-by-snap excitement in a stadium that I've never experienced before. It's like your brother's playing, and we watch every snap that he takes. That's kind of what Tiger Stadium's like on a Saturday night."

Dooley asked Miles about the concept of a homefield advantage being only as good as the players and team that call the stadium their home.

Miles: "Well, certainly, you have to have a good football team. I don't disagree in any way. The match of a quality football team, a team that can attack in several different ways, brings an excitement with it that means there's going to be some great plays."

Franz Beard of GatorCountry.com asked Miles about the progression of the Tigers and the steady improvement of the defense toward being able to play at a high level on every play.

Miles: "Well, the last game we played, against Georgia, I felt like our defense probably played as strong a half of defensive football as I've been around. That's flying to the ball, making tackles, tackling crisply, guys going down fast, covering the pass, sticking on the run ... I think ... there's a culture of great defense here, and our players understand it and understand what it takes, and they want it. They want to be a great defense, and so they're playing better."

Beard asked about Miles and his relationship with John Chavis, how they've adjusted and how they get on the same page about the defense.

Miles: "John has a great confidence about his strategy and knowledge, and his want to be a dominant front ... you know, it's an old cliche, but the greatest difficulty is to go from good to great, and I think he understands that very well, and I think he brings that, and he doesn't want a (merely) good defense; he wants to be a very, very excellent defense, and I think our guys understand that."

Miles said the newness of Chavis wore off quickly in terms of requiring adjustments from Miles and the Tigers.

Steve Eubanks of FoxSports.com asked about preparing a defense for two different styles of quarterback, as with Tim Tebow and John Brantley.

Miles: "We're preparing against Florida's offens, and we feel like whichever quarterback will take snaps there will operate with that offense. There's enough variability in that offense that gives you enough to prepare. It's an imperfect time, certainly. You don't know exactly the characteristic of the quarterback that's taking the snap, so you put yourself in the best position, you see where the offense dictates the quarterback's play, and you try to predict it."

The Palm Beach Post's Ben Volin asked whether the differences between Tebow and Brantley are so great they require two defensive game plans.

Miles: "Well, it's ... uh, yeah. Again, our focus is what Florida does, and I would guess that their players would expect that there would be some similarities in the calls. So -- again, imperfectly -- we're preparing for what appears to be the personality of the team that we're playing."

Volin asked what Miles has learned about Brantley despite the lack of videotape of him in Florida's offense.

Miles: "Well, we're impressed. He can throw it pretty well. He's a pretty nimble, fleet-footed guy that can move his feet, so we would expect there to be some similarities to some of the things that Tim Tebow, that he can do, and maybe some things that he does pretty well differently, so we're .... like I say, it's imperfect. We're working this as best we can."

The Advocate's Randy Rosetta played word association with Miles about big-picture, exterior things Miles thinks about when he thinks about the game against Florida.

Miles: "I think there'll be great energy in that stadium. I think that both teams are very, very talented and capable teams. I think it'll be great football. It appears to be one of the ... the makings of a great football game."

Rosetta asked what has stood out most for Miles from the four games he's coached against Florida since coming to LSU in 2005.

Miles: "Well-prepared. Very talented. Capable. Just ... competitive. That's what comes to my mind."

Dennis Dodd of CBSSports.com asked Miles if it will be any more intense and bigger than the 2007 game between Florida and LSU, when thousands of people were outside Tiger Stadium during the game while a sellout crowd enjoyed it inside the stadium.

Miles: "I suspect that there'll be some similarities. I think the crowd will fill this town and think there's a reason to believe that there won't be enough tickets to go around and that many of our fans and supporters will be in the perimeter of that stadium having as much fun as they can. Like I said, I think two very quality football teams will meet, and I think it'll be celebrated and enjoyed by the people that get in that stadium."

Dodd asked if there's something special about Tiger Stadium at night that sets it apart from other places where there are night games.

Miles: "Our guys enjoy it. I can tell you that. The announcement of Saturday night in Death Valley is quite an announcement."

Ron Higgins of The Commercial Appeal in Memphis said South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier said the NCAA should get rid of the excessive-celebration penalty because it's too open to interpretation. Higgins asked Miles about it, and whether Miles thought Charles Scott's penalty was justified.

Miles: "We're going to comply, and whatever the rule is is what we're going to try to comply with. I called and got further instruction yet again. I want our guys to celebrate. I want us to lead the country in celebration -- properly, correctly, back with our team. I instructed our team that way. We've been in some end zones. We understand big games. We understand making big plays. We don't want to give our opponent a 15-yard advantage by being excessive, and until that changes, until there's ... I think, in my opinion, if you don't keep the rule, the excessive will become not described. Right now, excessive is described. If you change the rule and eliminate it, then excessive then will only be described by the coach of the team that just made the play. I enjoy the fact that there's parameters, in my opinion."

Higgins asked if Miles thought the officials should use more common sense and consider the situation at the end of a game instead of being too literal with the rule.

Miles: "I've got a difficult time with common sense. It's a real ... if somebody's operating with common sense and somebody's not, if there's one interpretation for a written rule different than another guy's interpretation for a written rule, now I have a problem. I think you should put it in the rule book the way it's written, and if the guy in the stripes does his job, then everybody knows how to operate. I remember the penalty at Washington (linked on the Urban Meyer Q&A), which everybody in college football would love to have had back. A year a