Having LSU down and having LSU out have been two completely different things this football season.
Playing the full 60 minutes will be put to the test Saturday afternoon when the No. 8 Tennessee Volunteers travel to Baton Rouge to face the No. 25 Tigers. In LSU's 2-0 start to Southeastern Conference play, the Tigers turned a 13-0 deficit against Mississippi State into a 31-16 win and a 17-0 deficit against Auburn this past Saturday into a 21-17 triumph.
"We've got to understand that if we're up on the scoreboard, it doesn't matter," Tennessee second-year coach Josh Heupel said Monday. "We talk a lot about playing like it's 0-0 for 60 minutes. With the way they play and compete, no matter what the scoreboard looks like, you have to be prepared for their best for 60 minutes.
"They are a resilient team, and they've done a really good job of creating turnovers and making special teams plays to create short fields and flipping the way the game is played. You can see that from week one all the way to this past week."
LSU, which is in its first season under Brian Kelly, fell behind in the second quarter against Mississippi State and Auburn before turning those games around. The Tigers opened Labor Day weekend against Florida State in New Orleans, digging themselves a 24-10 hole early in the fourth quarter before succumbing 24-23 on a missed extra point as time expired.
"We've been able to exert our will on most teams in the second half this year," Kelly said after the win at Auburn. "I think the conditioning of our football team has been better than our opponents this year, and that will continue to be challenged as we move through the month.
"As this game moved on, I think it was pretty clear that we were able to exert our will and physically control the line of scrimmage."
While LSU has trailed in the second half in three of five games on the way to its 4-1 start, Tennessee has yet to trail in the third or fourth quarters. The 4-0 Vols did trail before halftime against Pittsburgh and Florida.
Out for the year
Tennessee senior cornerback Warren Burrell hasn't played since sustaining an upper-body injury late in the overtime win at Pittsburgh on Sept. 10, and his absence has been extended significantly.
"Warren had surgery and will be out the rest of the season," Heupel said.
The 6-foot, 190-pounder from the Atlanta suburb of Suwanee has played in 31 career games with 22 starts. He has amassed 83 tackles and nine pass breakups.
Happy early risers
There were no complaints from the Tennessee camp Monday when it came to Saturday's noon Eastern kickoff at Tiger Stadium.
"I love noon games,' fifth-year senior left guard Jerome Carvin said. "As soon as you get up, you get the pregame meal. You hit the road to the stadium, and you get it on."
Said Heupel: "If you ask coaches everywhere, they say, 'Give me the earliest kickoff possible.'"
Tillman update
Heupel confirmed Monday that fifth-year senior receiver Cedric Tillman underwent a "tightrope" procedure last week on the high-ankle sprain he sustained Sept. 17 against Akron.
"Cedric did have surgery," Heupel said. "He had an opportunity to speed up the recovery process side of it. He was limited but was moving around a little bit today, and we'll continue to see how it unfolds this week."
First encounter
During a college football season in which a whopping five Power Five coaches have already been fired, Heupel and Kelly are among the safest around. Heupel is 39-14 in his fifth season guiding a program, while Kelly led Notre Dame to 54 wins the past five years before relocating from South Bend to Baton Rouge.
Heupel was Oklahoma's quarterbacks coach during the 2012-13 seasons, when the Sooners split a pair of matchups against Kelly's Irish.
"He's done a really good job everywhere he's been," Heupel said. "His teams are well-coached, and they compete hard. He does a really good job."
Gone Gators
Heupel insists that the 38-33 topping of Florida on Sept. 24 has been in the rear-view mirror for a while now.
"One of the positives about our team is that they've been very consistent in their approach," he said. "That was a huge win for our fan base, but our players reset last week and pushed forward in the things we were asking them to do. This morning, it was full-speed ahead on LSU.
"The bye week gives you a chance to physically reset and mentally reset a little bit. They had a couple days off, and a bunch of them had an opportunity to go home and watch their high school football teams and be with their families."
Odds and ends
The Vols will wear their "Smokey Grey" uniforms at LSU, which wears its white jerseys at Tiger Stadium. ... Heupel on junior-college cornerback Dee Williams, who has yet to play this season: "Dee has been ramping it up here in the last couple of weeks, and I expect him to be able to play in this one and play really well when given the opportunity." ... Next week's home game against Alabama was picked up Monday by CBS and will kick off at 3:30. ... Heupel said his staff had a chance to "get around the country and go recruiting" this past weekend.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.