From Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium . . .

* Tiger coach Tommy West may have to make reading the newspaper off-limits to his players.

He blamed a lackluster performance by his offensive line in Wednesday’s scrimmage on an article that appeared in Wednesday’s paper on the group’s gains in strength and experience.

“Offensive line read the paper this morning about how big and bad they are,” West said. “They kind of looked like when they got here (to scrimmage), like they were pretty big and bad. They’re not. They’re just trying to be good.”

West was particularly incensed during one holding penalty, turning to the sideline, spotting O-line coach Rick Mallory, and shouting: “He (left tackle) Abraham Holloway tackled the guy,” West said. “He tackled the guy.”