LSU is currently 3-5 after Saturday’s loss to top-ranked Alabama but Tigers head coach Ed Orgeron said his team is still focused on finishing this season strong.
“We don't talk about 2021. We talk about finishing 2020,” he said. “I got to give credit for all these guys that stayed, that didn't opt out. We want to finish strong. I think you saw the willingness to compete to the very end against a very good football team. I expect that throughout the season.”
LSU will have a chance to finish strong as the Tigers to travel to Gainesville Saturday to take on No. 6 Florida.
“It will be a great finish, a great finish,” he said. “Start with Florida. What an outstanding challenge. 8-1, going to play in the Swamp. We have to play our best football, play our best football to be able to beat Florida.
“We got to take care of LSU first. They pose some problems. We got to put our cleats in the grass, eliminate explosive plays, score more points on offense, play great on special teams to even think about beating them.”
LSU’s struggled to do all of those things in the same game this season with both the offensive and defensive units struggling to find consistency at times.
Orgeron said Monday he still is optimistic about the direction of the program despite the struggles.
“I believe we have some outstanding freshmen that are learning how to play,” he said. “It all started playing poor defense at the beginning of the year. We were playing good offense. We were scoring 40, 41 points. Myles Brennan got hurt. There were a lot of blows throughout the year that this team took.
“I still think there's fight. I still think we have a great recruiting class. I love the freshmen we have on this football team. I think with one or two recruiting class, we will build championship teams again. I feel like we can do it.
“Maybe three years ago after we lost to Troy, nobody would ever predict we would win a national championship, have one of the best teams in the history of football. We did it. I do believe we can do it again.”