It has been four years already, but Kentucky fans don’t need much reminding about the last time the Wildcats beat LSU. It was 2007 and the Tigers were on the way to a national championship when UK defeated Les Miles’ team 43-37 in one of the biggest wins in school history.The game was actually the last matchup between UK and LSU, two teams who are preparing for a meeting this Saturday in Baton Rouge, La. As in 2007, the Tigers enter the game as the nation’s No. 1 team with UK looking to dethrone them. The personnel may have changed, but Joker Phillips says the theory the Wildcats used to upend the Tigers last time around won’t.”We have to use the same formula to beat them,” Phillips said, “and the formula was getting the ball back to the line of scrimmage.”Against an attacking defensive unit like the Tigers had in 2007 and have again in 2011, taking care of the football and avoiding negative plays are the clear priorities. By “getting the ball back to the line of scrimmage” and holding on to the football, UK was able to hang around against the eventual national champions. Once that happened, it came down to late-game execution.”We found a way late in the game to make some plays, to have a chance to upset them,” Phillips said. “And it will be the same way that we’ll have to do it this week. We can’t turn the ball over. We have to make some stops on defense, make them travel the whole field.”Unfortunately, that task has been easier said than done for the Wildcats so far in 2011. UK has committed 10 turnovers in just four games, including four in a loss to Florida last week. If UK commits turnovers, LSU is more than capable of scoring defensive touchdowns but even if the Tigers don’t, the short fields those turnovers will create for LSU’s bruising running game will be back-breaking. Last week, Florida had five drives start in UK territory and the Gators scored on all five. On the other 11, UK’s defense actually did a reasonably good job limiting the Gators.”We have to make people travel the whole field,” Phillips said. “We have given them the short field way too many times and a lot of that has to do with turnovers.”If UK is indeed able to force LSU into extended drives, that’s when turnovers can really be forced. LSU quarterback Jarrett Lee has been effective taking care of the football this season, throwing just one interception in three games, but he threw 18 picks in 398 pass attempts in his first three seasons, including 16 in his only full season as a starter in 2008.Lee, like nearly all the players on both of these teams, was not on the field the last time UK and LSU matched up, but Phillips said he has used the example of the game to emphasize to his players what needs to be done to win. Beyond that, the impact is somewhat limited because players’ memories are short these days.”You can use it a little bit, but some of the guys on this team don’t remember that game,” Phillips said.Even the ones that do remember have never played on the road against LSU. One of the most hostile venues in the nation, Tiger Stadium is notorious for raucous crowds that make defeating the always strong LSU team that much more difficult. UK has practiced this week with speakers imitating crowd noise directly behind the offensive huddle, which should help the Cats cope come Saturday. Even so, fully preparing for what they’ll face is impossible.However, there may be no better coach than Phillips to help them do it. Phillips played in Baton Rouge at UK in 1983, catching a pair of touchdowns as the Wildcats won 21-13.”I went in there was a player and as a coach and came away successful,” Phillips said. “You can expect a loud, hostile crowd. I can remember Coach (Jerry) Claiborne taking us to walk the field, walk the stadium prior to the ’83 game when we did play there and won.”Phillips can remember what Jerry Eisaman, his offensive coordinator in 1983, said to acclimate his players to the surroundings.”He asked us just to smell the popcorn, smell the grass and all those things that come with being on a college football field,” Phillips said. “Those things helped us mentally in understanding and preparing ourselves for what was about to happen the next day and to give us an opportunity to go in there and win, because we were prepared. None of the things shocked us.”However he accomplishes it, Phillips will need to have his players in a similar state of mind when the two teams play a rare day game at Tiger Stadium. Games are almost always played under the lights in Baton Rouge and LSU has historically been much more successful in home games at night. Although he does like the fact his team doesn’t have to while away the time on Saturday before kickoff, Phillips knows football is still football.”When the whistle blows, you can throw out all that stuff,” Phillips said. “We’ll try to use that mentally but when the whistle blows, you can throw out all that stuff and it’s you against me and that’s the attitude that we have to take.”