Q&A From Ed Orgeron's Monday Press Conference - Florida Game Week

Q. On preparing for DC Todd Grantham...
ED ORGERON: Yeah. We have to go back in his history, we have to look at the things that he's done, we have to be prepared for line stunts, be prepared for four-man rush, be prepared for blitzes. We have a lot of work to do this week. There will be a lot of walk-throughs, there will be a lot of film study. We have to be prepared for everything that he comes after. But the biggest thing that we have to do in practice is simulate the speed of their defensive line. So we're going to put our fastest guys on the rush team and rush our guys all week, obviously.

Q. On Florida's pass rush and Ed Ingram's performance...
ORGERON: I thought he played pretty well. He did well assignment-wise, he was good. He didn't get tired. He played well. We're going to see this week how he feels. I'll go, usually go with his gut feeling on that decision, him or Adrian. We'll see how the week goes.

This is by far the best pass rush we have seen. I think I've said it every day in our press conference that I can, that we're going to be tested and this is just what I was talking about. I watched the game against Miami. It was a tremendous pass rush. Last year we did not block their pass rush very well. It's going to be a challenge for us.

Q. Seems that Dan Mullen and Todd Grantham have had some success against LSU in recent years...
ORGERON: We looked at the Mississippi State film two years ago, we watched it. We're look at the history, we're looking at -- Dan is big formation guy, and he's going to see how he lines up in a certain formation, and he's going to try to hit you where your weaknesses are at, so that's going to be a key for us this week.

But after looking at the film this morning, it's going to come down to blocking and tackling. They ran the speed option on us, we were out of position. They ran the quarterback throw back, we were out of position. We just got to be in position and we got to make plays when we need to make plays.

Q.Is there anybody on the defense that kind of helps you get that good look?
ORGERON: Well, if they were they would be starting for us, I can promise you that. But I'm not going to put K'Lavon on against our first team every day. He's the closest one. Justin Thomas, Justin Thomas can pass rush. Michael Divinity, hopefully he's back this week. I'm going to see how he is today. Hopefully he can rush again, but guys like Marcel Brooks, Justin Thomas, those guys are going to have to help.

Q. Saahdiq Charles and injury updates...
ORGERON: Saahdiq Charles is going to play this week. It was a coaching decision. Michael Divinity is going to practice this week. Hopefully he's ready. Rashard Lawrence is going to practice this week. Hopefully he's ready. Glen Logan is going to be limited this week. Don't know if he's going to be ready.

Q. On scout team players...
ORGERON: Yeah, one team, one heartbeat. We made a highlight of those guys at the end of camp and showed it to our football team and told them how much we appreciate them. I always try to compliment them on the way they work. And assimilation is key for us, and the more we get into the season, the less hitting we're going to be doing in practice or these walk-throughs, assimilating and being in the right spot the right time, gives our team a winning edge. So those guys are awfully important. And plus, those guys are friends with our starters. As you know, it's about one team, one heartbeat. Everybody has a role, and their role's just as important.

Q. On third-down conversations this season...
ORGERON: I think it's game planning. I think our guys do a tremendous job of game planning. And I think it comes down to protection. Third down is, to me is always about protection. It's always about pass rush. If you can protect, I think that you give enough time for a quarterback to throw the football, there will be open spots. I think if you can pass rush and not give the quarterback enough time, you'll win.

Q. You guys are No. 1 in the country right now in red zone offense. Last season you were disappointed in that. What has made the biggest difference?
ORGERON: First of all, No. 1 right now is good for out there (the public). It doesn't mean nothing to us. We got to get better. The work that we do today, we do red zone on Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday morning. So we work more in the red zone. I do believe that the schemes that we have and the game planning that we have in red zone have been phenomenal. And we have good players and our quarterback can get the ball to them.

Q. On the offense always having to prove itself...
ORGERON: Yeah, well, we know how it is in the SEC. It's going to be like this every week from now on. It's going to be a challenge but I think these guys are going to be up for it. Or are we going to score the same amount of points that we have been scoring every week? I don't know, we may, we may not. The object is always to win the game and to play a full team.

So I think that our guys understand the challenge, our guys understand the teams that we have played. Some of them were not as strong as the ones we're going to play, but we have been gearing up for this and we're ready.

Q. On Kristian Fulton working in the slot...
ORGERON: Yeah, it looked pretty good but Cordale Flott is out, so. Stuff like that looked pretty good, but I hate to cut you short, but Cordale is injured. I don't know if Cordale is going to play this week, so I don't know if you're going to see as much of it.

Q. On Neil Farrell...
ORGERON: He's very instinctive. Neil's tougher than an old alligator, man. He's a tough young man, love him to death, from Alabama, great parents, great character. Has stuck with it. Now his opportunity has come. I told Coach Johnson, I said, once Neil becomes a first-teamer he's going to be hard to sit down, and he is. And right now he's still on first team. I don't know if Glen's going to play, but I expect Neil to start in this game.

Q. On LSU's pass rush vs. Florida...
ORGERON: No question. Controlling the line of scrimmage on both sides is going to be a key to this football game. Again, I watched that film this morning and it was a physical football game. We were doing very well but they did some good things too. So it's going to be a battle. We're going to have to win our blocks up front, we have to win our gaps, and we're going to have to tackle. Florida has run the ball on us the last two years, very, very well. We have to stop the run. I think that's my biggest concern right now is stopping the run.

Q. On feeling comfortable with the freshman RB's...
ORGERON: Yeah, yup, let them go. Let them go. I think they're ready to play. And so is Chris Curry. I think we have four backs that can go and play, and they have to understand that and so does Clyde. Clyde had a has had two fumbles the last two weeks. I'm very concerned with that. We're going to work -- just like we attacked tackling last week. We attacked it, we got better at it, we went back and looked at the film, what we were doing right, what we were doing wrong. And we were a much better team tackling. I expect us to be a much better team holding onto that football this week and it's going to be addressed every day, I promise you that.

Q. The last three years against Florida, I think you scored 46 points total. Did your struggles in this game push you even further to going to what you're doing now offensively, was that a big thing, did it convince you that had you to move?
ORGERON: Sure, no, all the SEC teams, I knew that they were scoring points and we weren't. I knew that we had the athletes, I knew we had the coaches, wejust had to change our system. But it just took awhile. And finally we hit it right. I think that I couldn't ask for a better coordinator for right now, for Coach Ensminger and what he's doing, he's the general. And then have a young guy like Joe Brady come along to teach the offense, and Steve just kind of monitor everything and call it. I think it's the perfect scenario for right now.

And I think Joe Burrow is the perfect quarterback for us at this point in time. He's smart, he's a champ, he's going to stay in the pocket, he's going to take a hit. And we got outstanding receivers.

Q. With Cordale Flott, if he doesn't play against Florida, does it just mean more time for Fulton or how does that depth work out after that?
ORGERON: Christian will be our starter, no question.

Q. But how does depth kind of build around at the cornerback there?
ORGERON: We have to see. We have to see if Jay Ward and those guys are ready. We have to talk about it. We haven't talked about it as much. We're going to wait to see how Cordale is towards the end of the week, but I talked to Jack this morning, we don't think he's going to play. So I might have a better answer for you on Thursday.

Q. More of a lighthearted question. LSU's obviously known for its tailgating a lot of tailgaters might be frying up some alligator. Are you going to feed your team any alligator before the game?
ORGERON: Yeah, yeah, you know what? I love the tradition, I promise you that. And I hope our fans have a blast. But there will be no gimmicks with our football team on Saturday. This is going to be a hard-nosed football game. We're going to be focused all week, we're going to block out the noise, we're not going to pay attention to anything that's going on except the task at hand and that's beating Florida. That's going to be a big monumental task for us and we plan on getting it done.

Q. Derek Stingley and Ja’Marr Chase seemed so effective in one-on-one matchups going up and getting the ball. What's it like when those two are going against each other in practice?
ORGERON: Yeah, it's the first thing I watch when I come in. I love it. Those guys, they compete every day. One day Ja'Marr will win, one day Derek will win. And that's what makes them better. We talk to our recruits, iron sharpens iron, that's why you come to LSU because the game is supposed to be harder on the practice field than it is on Saturdays.

Q. What are the statuses Badara Traore and Charles Turner right now?
ORGERON: Badara, he's out. I think Turner should be ready to go. I'm not sure on that.

Q. How does that kind of depth going to -- Florida, you've talked about the defensive line and just how does that kind of play out?
ORGERON: The depth on the offensive line? If we go with Ed coming back and with Chasen is now the second team center and he can swing to the right guard, and then Adrian Magee. Saahdiq's going to play this week so now we got, we have a little bit more depth than people think.

Q. And kind of describe Grant Delpit’s importance or contributions to the defense in a year where maybe his stats aren't as eye popping as they were last year?
ORGERON: First of all, Grant's a great, great player. Great young man. Very unselfish. Look if we put him back in the post all day he's going to say, Coach, I'll play in the post, whatever it takes for the team. When he came off the field we thought he may have had a concussion, and I was a little nervous, to be honest with you. But he went back in, I don't know, couple of plays later, and played very well. We would like to get grant closer to the ball, blitz him, use him in a fashion where we're rushing the quarterback, making different plays. And I think you started to see that last week. You saw him on the line of scrimmage, blitzing, making more plays than you'll see more of that but wherever we need him he's going to play and he's basically effective where we put him.

Q. I know you said you're thankful to be the LSU coach every day and when you got a game like this, two undefeated teams you got your first cool front coming in, ESPN Gameday, all those things, does this really get your juices going?
ORGERON: Yeah, it's fun. It's fun. I'm still waiting for that darn cold front. That's going to be nice. It's going to be -- I think it's going to be a great game day -- I'm happy for the players and the fans, man, this is what you come to LSU for. This is why you want to play in this game. I watched LSU/Florida. I remember when Tebow would come in, I remember when we upset them, we went for it on fourth down, I watched every one of those games. And even though we played them over there the last two years it was, it's a great rivalry, it's a great teams, it's great players, the speed on this field is about as fast as you're going to see on a college football field on a Saturday night.

Q. On the players chirping with Florida players on social media...
ORGERON: Yeah, I'm going to talk to them about it today, see what happens. But I know this, that I think it was several years back we had as tussle before the game. I don't want that. That distracts from the football team, that distracts from the task at hand, so we're going to make sure that our guys understand that. For some reason this is a heated battle, emotions are flying high, we want to use those emotions in the right way, I don't think there's anything I can say today or this week or anything our players can say today or this week that will make us win the game, besides work hard, keep our mouth shut and be ready to play Saturday night.

Q. How John Emory and Davis-Price have impressed you?
ORGERON: Sort of the same thing we have been seeing in practice. They're two different backs, they're two good backs. John can put his foot in the grass and make a cut about as good as most people I've been with. Still needs to hold on to the football. He was trying to give extra effort and all it is is putting two hands on the ball when he gets in traffic. Tyrion is a bull, he's going to go north and south and he can run you over and he runs with an attitude. So I think that we kind have a thunder and lightning deal right there going on. The more snaps they get the better they're going to be. I was really impressed with Chris Curry I thought he played his best game and showed that he's worthy and willing to play with significant snaps.

Q. I think we saw the atmosphere maybe make a difference in Gainesville this week and for Auburn does the type of game where you really want the crowd to be in it?
ORGERON: I will say this to you, their crowd last year showed up. That was probably the most hostile place we played and I wish it wouldn't have affected us but it did and even the players said it. So I know our fans are going to be loud, I know last year when we played Georgia our crowd affected the Georgia Bulldogs and we won that game. I would expect our crowd to be a winning edge, I know they will be, 7 o'clock at night they should be primed and ready to go.

Q. On if he expected the Joe Burrow Heisman talk when he transferred from Ohio State...
ORGERON: No, not really. Not really. We just wanted a good quarterback. We just wanted somebody to throw the ball, run the spread offense but the thing that I was most impressed two things most impressed about Joe is his intelligence and his toughness. We felt that once he took over the team, we saw him progress and I think he made a lot of progress last year in between the first game and the last game. He was a different quarterback. And then in the bowl game we saw him throw the football like we like him to throw the ball. And once we saw him in the spring, I felt that he was going to have a tremendous year. I never think about individual awards or that never even crossed my mind but I do know we have a winning quarterback. Let's see what happens.

Q. On 11 a.m. kickoff and attending McNeese game...
ORGERON: Yeah, first of all I was proud of our team. We don't blink. Just tell us what time we're going to play and where we're going to play and we're going to show up. The guys, again, we had an early morning meeting everybody was there early all the coaches were there early, shoot I felt like it was 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Our guys were ready to go, so we showed no signs of mental weakness. I think if it comes to mental toughness, edge LSU. And I said that and our guys are mentally tough. We were fortunate enough that we could get to McNeese, I think I got there midway in the first quarter. It was a heck of a game, Cody threw the winning touchdown at the end. It was great to be a parent at that game. Kelly and I was back home at 11 o'clock at night. It was a wonderful weekend for everybody, I was just fortunate I was able to do it.

Q. On watching Auburn's d-line vs. Florida...
ORGERON: Yeah they have about three first round draft choices on the front line that looked very good to me. No, I need to study it more. Obviously I know Coach Steele. Going against them, it's about -- it's nothing fancy, it's about winning the one-on-one matchups and I think that's what we have to do, win our one-on-one matchups, rush the passer. We got some good rushers, I think Neil is becoming a good rusher, Tyler Shelvin is playing his best football right now. Obviously having K'Lavon back, having Mike back, I think that we can get back to our green package, have some speed on the field and it will be fun. But I don't think it's going to come down to pass rushing against this team I think it's going to come down to stopping the run.

Q. What has Shelvin done that makes him impressive?
ORGERON: I think he's played very good in the middle. Sometimes you don't see the nose tackle as much because he's causing double teams. But he's playing his blocks well, he's playing with leverage, he's getting off, he's had some good pass rushes, he's playing hard. I think he's become a complete player.

Q. About the possibility of playing Southern and just what that would mean for the city of Baton Rouge?
ORGERON: I think it's wonderful. I don't do the scheduling, that's not my wheelhouse, but if we play Southern -- I love Coach O, I love Southern, we camped together and he's a great man and I think it's great for the city of Baton Rouge. And again, I think that the more we can stay together with the schools in Louisiana and support each other the better.