Saban pleased with bye-week practices

BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA - LSU coach Nick Saban was wary when players went to talk to him earlier this week about the open date practice schedule. <br> <br> ``I said, &#39;Oh, no, they&#39;re going to come to me and ask not to practice as much or get more time off&#39; or whatever,&#39;&#39; Saban said. ``They asked, &#39;Coach, could we practice earlier in the day?&#39; so if a guy wants to go home they have a little more time to do it.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Because of a school holiday the Tigers practiced at noon Thursday. The team will continue to work out through Saturday, then take Sunday off before beginning preparations for Florida. <br> <br> The No. 6-ranked Tigers (5-0, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) will host the No. 24-ranked Gators (3-2, 1-1) on Oct. 11, the game to be televised by CBS. <br> <br> ``We&#39;ll look at the next three or four opponents down the road at things we&#39;ve not seen and work on them a little extra,&#39;&#39; Saban said. <br> <br> Saban said he has been pleased with the way his team has practiced all season and approached this open date as a chance to heal and improve. <br> <br> ``The maturity of your team and how you handle and manage these types of things is real important,&#39;&#39; Saban said. ``This team seems so far to have shown a lot of maturity.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Cornerback Corey Webster said the way the Tigers practice can pay dividends, even if practice comes on an open date week. <br> <br> ``We work hard at practice, ``Webster said. ``Coach says we&#39;re a good practice team. If we practice hard good things will happen.&#39;&#39;