LSU Football: What Ed Orgeron was concerned about before the Vanderbilt game
By Zach Ragan
LSU football head coach Ed Orgeron had a small concern before the Tigers’ matchup against Vanderbilt.
Earlier on Friday, I wrote about why LSU football head coach Ed Orgeron was confident heading into the Tigers’ game against the Vanderbilt Commodores last weekend.
The return of Derek Stingley Jr, the unquestioned best cornerback in the nation, made Orgeron feel a lot better about LSU’s defense last weekend.
But while Coach O had confidence ahead of the Tigers’ matchup against the Commodores, there was still one thing that made him a bit nervous.
Pumped in crowd noise at Vanderbilt Stadium.
LSU football didn’t practice with fan noise
In the week leading up to LSU’s game against Vandy, the Tigers didn’t practice with any crowd noise. That’s because Vanderbilt only allowed a limited number of students to attend the game.
But if you’ve watched many sporting events lately, you’re likely well aware of the presence of pumped in crowd noise, which can often be louder than a normal crowd (insert joke about Vandy’s attendance here).
Vanderbilt utilized the pumped in crowd noise and it’s something that Coach O wasn’t expecting.
“When we walked into the stadium at Vanderbilt, they were playing very loud crowd noise,” said Orgeron this week (via Rivals). “I got a little worried because we didn’t practice crowd noise all week, which we usually do going to play an away game.”
The pumped in noise, fortunately for LSU, ended up not being a big issue.
“They could only play, I think it’s 75 decibels loud when we’re out there, which is not very loud,” explained Coach O. “So it didn’t affect us at all. It was kind of eerie going into the stadium with no fans and stuff like that. I think we learned our lesson from the first game that we have to create our own energy.”
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The Tigers left Nashville with a 41-7 win. So it doesn’t sound like the artificial crowd noise made an impact. Either way, it’s clear that Orgeron is all about the small details when it comes to preparing his team for a game.