Tennessee's fancy new equipment trailer was finally seeing activity Saturday afternoon.

Shoulder pads were lined up just waiting to be loaded for today's 10-hour drive to Baton Rouge.

We won't find out until 7:30 p.m. Monday (TV: ESPN2) if the Vols remembered to pack their offense.

No. 10 UT heads to No. 3 LSU willing to do whatever it takes to get a scoring offense ranked dead last in the SEC on track.

There were 17 points against UAB. There were seven points at Florida.

Tennessee's two-game total of 24 points is its lowest scoring output since losing 44-0 to Georgia and 43-7 to Southern Cal to start the 1981 season.

Further frustration comes from the fact the Vols are still waiting for their first second-half points of the season.

Sophomore quarterback Erik Ainge hopes the Vols are ready to cure their ills against the Tigers.

"We've shown glimpses on drives," he said. "We just need to put it all together. I think the offense is ready.

"We're a mature football team and I think we're ready to handle it."

That includes being ready for possible wet-field conditions caused by Hurricane Rita.

"You get all your shotgun stuff ready and we do wet ball drills," he said. "The quarterbacks and centers get over there and snap the balls to us with them soaking wet.

"It's an advantage for the receivers if the field is wet, muddy and slippery because they know where they're going to cut and the defense doesn't."

Senior guard Rob Smith would love nothing better than a sloppy surface.

"It would be cool to go two tights (tight ends), us pound it and them pound, and see how it comes out," Smith said. "That would be cool."

Unfortunately for Smith, weather forecasts for Baton Rouge show only a 30-percent chance of rain on game night.

A better forecast could be better news for the Vols' passing game.

If there's a weakness in the Tigers' defense, it's in the defensive backfield.

Arizona State ripped LSU for 461 yards passing in the season opener.

UT offensive coordinator Randy Sanders hopes that bodes well for a Vols' passing attack ranked ninth in the SEC.

"Obviously there are some opportunities because Arizona State did it," Sanders said. "It looked like watching film that LSU might have made some mental errors and got out of position a couple of times.

"They may have two guys covering the strong flat and nobody covering the weak flat. It seemed like every time they made a mistake Arizona State had the right play on and made the plays."

Still, Sanders doesn't think things will be easy against the Tigers.

"I think LSU has a really good defense," he said. "They look really impressive on film. They just made some mistakes and every time they did it really, really hurt them."

Douglas Back: A tweaked knee meant he wasn't on the original travel roster released on Thursday, but senior guard Cody Douglas is back on the plane leaving for Baton Rogue on Monday morning.

"Cody is going to travel and play," UT coach Phillip Fulmer said. "That's a positive for us. Plus, two or three other guys who had little nicks should be better."

Center Richie Gandy (knee) will not play.

The offensive line will need all the experience it can get to deal with LSU defensive tackles Claude Wroten and Kyle Williams, generally regarded as two of the best in the SEC.

"I'm thankful we had another day or two to work," Fulmer said. "We darn sure corrected some things in the offensive front that needed to be corrected with a good practice (Saturday)."

Also on the travel roster are junior defensive tackle Tony McDaniel and freshman defensive end Robert Ayers. Each player finished serving two-game suspensions and is ready for action.

Need Takeaways: UT defensive coordinator John Chavis wants to see more ball-hawking against the Tigers.

Tennessee has created two turnovers, both of those coming in the opener against UAB. There were some chances against Florida, but the Vols didn't take advantage of them.

"We had an opportunity for a couple of interceptions," Chavis said. "I'm a little disappointed we didn't get a couple of takeaways and that's where we've got to improve.

"We've got to do a better job of getting the ball on the ground, getting the ball out of the air when it's thrown and giving our offense a short field to work with."

Message Sent: Fulmer wasn't at all pleased with Friday's workout and let the team no about it with vocal pre-practice and post-practices speeches on Saturday.

"It was good yesterday we weren't quite as focused as we should have been because it gave us a great chance to jump their rears about getting back in gear," Fulmer said.

Indoor Practice: The Vols strayed from routine with Saturday's abbreviated practice taken into the indoors facility.

"Just a change," Fulmer said. "We've been outside just about every day for the whole time with it pretty humid.

"Right now, with what we've got coming up looking all the way to the Georgia game, we're going to have to do a good job of managing ourselves and our health, and our time management."