Saban preaching consistency at LSU

HOOVER, ALABAMA - Nick Saban doesn&#39;t want his LSU Tigers to be one-year wonders, a team that wins a Southeastern Conference championship then falls off the national college football map. <br> <br> ``Way back in February, I presented to the players that we need to make a decision whether we&#39;ll be a flash in pan with one 10-win season or set a high standard of a nationally recognized dominant program that wins with consistency and does things the right way,&#39;&#39; Saban said. <br> <br> The Tigers are among the preseason favorites to repeat as SEC Western Division champions, but they don&#39;t seem to be buying it. <br> <br> ``Right now, I would put us last,&#39;&#39; tailback LaBrandon Toefield said at the SEC Media Days on Tuesday. ``We can&#39;t look at last year and we can&#39;t look at all the preseason hype. We&#39;re going to have to prove it.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> There are practical reasons why the Tigers aren&#39;t getting swept up in the hype after stunning Tennessee in the SEC championship game last season and winning the Sugar Bowl. <br> <br> First, LSU opens the season at Virginia Tech. Second, quarterback Rohan Davey, the team&#39;s leader, and receiver Josh Reed have moved on to the pro ranks to break up one of the league&#39;s most prolific passing duos. <br> <br> ``You have great leaders like Rohan Davey only sometimes on a team,&#39;&#39; Saban said. ``This year, more players are going have contribute in that role. <br> <br> ``Sometimes you get spoiled when have one guy like that that everyone can rally around. That&#39;s something we&#39;re going to have to adapt to and our players are going to have to adapt to.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Toefield said sophomore Matt Mauck, who replaced an injured Davey in the title game, is beginning to emerge as a leader. <br> <br> ``A lot of guys are starting right now to really listen to him and do everything he says,&#39;&#39; said Toefield, who tied an SEC record with 19 rushing touchdowns last season. <br> <br> The Tigers closed last season with six straight wins, including a 47-34 win over No. 7 Illinois in the Sugar Bowl and wins over four consecutive ranked teams. <br> <br> They ended the season ranked seventh, the program&#39;s first Top 10 finish since 1987. <br> <br> Still, Saban&#39;s focus is on what the Tigers will do for an encore. The key, he said, will be the intangibles of attitude and work ethic. <br> <br> ``Those are the kind of things you can never take for granted,&#39;&#39; said Saban, who praised his team&#39;s offseason work habits. ``You can never take for granted that, &#39;We&#39;ve established these things&#39; because every time you think you have, you get disappointed. <br> <br> ``Those intangibles can kill the principles and values the whole program is built on.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Toefield said he&#39;s seen some of the younger players fall into that trap in the offseason, but figures the veterans will end that talk quickly. <br> <br> ``A lot of young guys are looking at it like, &#39;We&#39;re SEC champions, we&#39;ve done this and we&#39;ve done that, and we don&#39;t have to work as hard.&#39; <br> <br> ``That&#39;s where the leaders come in. When we get to camp, we&#39;ve got to take those guys by the hand and say, &#39;We haven&#39;t accomplished anything. That was last season.&#39;&#34;