BATON ROUGE — LSU
Miles done criticizing
Les Miles sounds like a big fan of Pacific-10 football now.
As No. 11 LSU began the final week of practice for its season opener at Washington, Miles had no interest in revisiting his 2007 comments about the Pac-10's strength of schedule.
"The only thing I can tell you is that we're playing Washington and look forward to playing them," Miles said. "I certainly understand the experience that the Pac-10 has had, what a great conference it's been, the success that they've had, so we would expect no less from Washington."
Washington was among the Pac-10 teams - Stanford and UCLA were others - that Miles mockingly referred to as "real juggernauts" while criticizing Southern California's strength of schedule to a pro-LSU gathering in New Orleans in the summer of 2007.
The Huskies haven't exactly proved Miles wrong. They were 0-12 in 2008.
Star center dies at 97
BATON ROUGE - Mar vin "Moose" Stewart, a star center for the LSU football team in the 1930s, has died. He was 97.
The school said he died Sunday in Pebble Beach, Calif.
Stewart and Gaynell Tinsley led the Tigers to SEC titles in 1935 and 1936. He was an all-conference selection his senior season.
In 1993, marking the 100th anniversary of LSU football, Stewart was the center on the Early Years Team of the Century. He is a member of the LSU Athletic Hall of Fame.
VANDERBILT Smith named starting QB
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Vanderbilt Coach Bobby Johnson went with youth over experience for his starting quarterback Monday.
Johnson announced redshirt sophomore Larry Smith is his starter, beating out senior Mackenzi Adams and redshirt junior Jared Funk. Smith started the Commodores' Music City Bowl victory last December and is a former Alabama Mr. Football who led his high school team to a state title.
"All the time you do think of the future, but your big charge now is to win Saturday's game," Johnson said at his weekly news conference. "That's all we're concerned about. We're not playing for 2010, 2011. We're trying to have a big year this year. So our top charge is to try to get the player in there who's going to help us win games this year."
Smith appeared in two games last season and was 19 of 34 for 167 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception.
The Commodores open the season Saturday night at home against Western Carolina.
ALABAMA One and done?
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Nick Saban knows SEC teams do have some margin for error when it comes to competing for a national championship.
A loss? It's survivable. Two? The breaks can still fall your way.
Still, Alabama's coach cringes at the mere possibility, however improbable, that either his team,ranked fifth, or No. 7 Virginia Tech could drop from the national title picture with an opening loss Saturday night.
"Now we're talking about first game of the season, you're out of it," Saban, who advocates a more forgiving playoff, said Monday. "It's horrible. It's a horrible thought for any team to be out of anything after one game." KENTUCKY Brooks anxious for game
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Players often bemoan preseason workouts, and Kentucky Coach Rich Brooks says he too is ready to face some live competition after a summer camp that has seemed much longer thannormal.
"I'm anxious," Brooks said. "I'm kind of frustrated. I'm kind of antsy. I'm kind of nervous. I want to go play, and I think a lot of our team is in the same mood."
It's not that it has been an offseason full of distractions. The only major one was the revelation that defensive end Jeremy Jarmon had tested positive for a banned substance and would have to forgo his senior year. Otherwise, the team has steered largely clear of major injuries or scandals.
Kentucky opens against Miami-Ohio Saturday in Cincinnati, giving the Wildcats their first opportunity to play at the home of the Bengals.
"It's going to bring out a whole new level of excitement," defensive tackle Corey Peters said. "We feed off that excitement. It gives us energy."
Sports, Pages 22 on 09/01/2009