Les Miles doesn’t see January’s 21-0 loss to Alabama in the BCS Championship Game as a reason for his team to hang its collective head. Instead, he believes that game — on the heels of such an otherwise tremendous season — will serve as motivation for the 2012 Tigers:
“There’s an understanding we had the best record in college, 13-1. We won the conference, won the Western Division, and frankly beat the national champions at their home stadium.
They (LSU players) recognized that they achieved greatly; they didn’t play well in their last game. There’s a real hunger and want to start the season. Any time you finish a season on a negative note you return to the opener in the beginning of next season with a real anxious want. That’s very much the case here.
I’ve never been 13-1. I certainly enjoyed it for a long stretch. We were the No. 1 team in the country for 11 straight weeks and answered that bell well. It’s hard for me to talk about coming off a season of great achievement with a hangover.”
Expect the mantra for this year’s Tiger squad to be a single, simple word — Finish.
