Here's Everything Ed Orgeron Said About Texas A&M, Last Year's Game, & The Rivalry

LSU head coach Ed Orgeron met with the media on Monday and a big topic of discussion was the seven-overtime loss to Texas A&M last year...

Q. Dating back to last year's game, that was one where you got a Gatorade shower there before the end. What are your memories of that and how that --

ED ORGERON: Well, it was obviously a little premature. Our guys were fired up. We thought that we won the game three or four times. We didn't, obviously, but you know, that's last year so we've got to let that thing go, and we've got to focus on this year. Last year don't matter. There's different players on this team. There's different players on their team, just like when we played Alabama. Those last eight games didn't matter. This is about this year, about focusing in on this team.

Q. I'm not sure if I ever heard you speak about what exactly happened on the field last year with Dameyune Craig and Steve Kragthorpe and all that stuff. What happened after the game?

ED ORGERON: Well, you know, it was a mess. It was a mess, and that's all I want to say about it. Obviously I wasn't part of it. I went to shake hands with Jimbo, and after I heard about it, all this stuff. But everybody knows what happened. It was a mess that shouldn't have happened, and I'm sorry that it did happen.

Q. Last year you guys on the way back from that game you had that fog issue and flew into New Orleans and were trapped there. What do you remember from that whole part of the trip?

ED ORGERON: Yeah, I actually forgot that. Thank you for reminding me. We just felt -- like I said after the game, we felt helpless. I saw Joe getting three IVs, guys hurt. They gave everything they had. I don't know how many hours we played for. We just felt helpless and then we just felt that when our time comes we're going to do something about it, and now's the time.

Q.I'm curious, how long did it take for your shirt to dry after the Gatorade bath?

ED ORGERON: I don't know. There's so many things happening right there, like in the game, you've got to shake it off, man. But I stunk pretty well after the game, I can tell you that.

Q. Will you maybe tell your team let's play so well that we decide this take and nobody else decides it?

ED ORGERON: That's a good point. I'm going to mention that. That's a good point. I told them that after the game. I said, you know, although those things happen, we've got to look at the plays that we could have played, the plays -- let's face it, we didn't play well on defense. I watched the film again this morning. There's a lot of things that we've got to get better at starting today. They're very challenged and they're very well-coached.

Q. And Kellen Mond as a quarterback over there, I don't know where he is as far as their expectations, but what do you see out of him as a quarterback that he's potentially dangerous?

ED ORGERON: He's dangerous. He's dangerous. Last year he had a lights-out game against us, running the ball, throwing the ball, big receivers, great scheme. I think this is one of the better players we're going to see all year.

Q. How big a rivalry in your opinion is this, one? And two, are these kind of games important as far as keeping a fellow SEC West rival out of your backyard when it comes to recruiting?

ED ORGERON: Sure. I think it's a rivalry. I'm not an LSU expert to say what's the best rival, what it is, but our guys -- we beat them for a long time and they beat us last year and it hurt. They have a good team. Coach Fisher is a good coach. He's been here. We all know about it. This is competitive. So they have great players. We have great players. They have great coaches. It's going to be a heck of a game, and it is, yes. We need to beat the other schools. That helps us in recruiting and also helps us in recruiting in Houston. Houston is one of our biggest areas of recruiting, so we beat Texas, and beating Texas A&M helps us.

Q. Scott Woodward obviously came here from Texas A&M. Just curious in the six, seven months, what have been you guys' decisions of making this the new normal and just your thoughts about the program heading into the future.

ED ORGERON: Yeah, he's been great. He comes every day. He knows more about recruiting than most people I've met. He talks to me every Sunday. We talk about the game. He's in the locker room. He's very supportive. He talks to the players, talks to the coaches. He's been phenomenal. Ever since the day he's come in there, he's been an asset, been phenomenal. Everything I've asked him for, which has been much, he's given it to us, in order to be successful. He wants to win just like we do.

Q. I realize that you're saying in terms of personnel and film study to leave last year's game behind; it's new stuff this year. But it may be your experience that a little bit of emotion can be helpful in a sport like football, so to what extent, what are the things that you do want them, if anything, to hold on to from last year, whether it's the feeling coming off the field or what?

ED ORGERON: Well, internal motivation is always good, regardless of where you get it. And these guys will be internally motivated to play well in this game. I know they will. But they also understand that that doesn't win games. You have to go out there and perform. You have to take care of the football, take care of your fundamentals and execute. We're going to be sky high, but we can't be too high to where we're committing a bunch of penalties and all that stuff, but it's going to be an emotional game because of what happened last year, because of where we're at right now. We're 11-0, we want to finish the season undefeated. We know what's ahead of us. It's our last game in Tiger Stadium, so hey, that's why you play football, to enjoy. That's why you coach. It'll be very emotional Saturday night. I can't wait.

Q. Joe mentioned at one point you ran out of two-point plays because of how long the game went. How taxing was it on the coaches?

ED ORGERON: Yeah, we did. Ensminger was on the headset: Anybody got a two-point play? In fact, because of that game, I put a period in on every Thursday, two-point plays and trick plays. So we practice two-point plays. We try to get two-point plays off of NFL teams. The spring league they had, there were nice little trick plays and stuff like that. So we have a repertoire now that we have enough if we get into battle that we're going to be ready.