TigerStuckinOkieland

I disagree - Mett DID play well enough in ALL games to win for LSU. Aside from a few over-thrown deep balls and a couple of stupid interceptions over the course of the year, he led the team well.

In the FLA game, some may have forgotten that Mett threw a beautiful deep ball to OBJ that was stripped at around the 10-15 yd. line in the 3rd quarter. Otherwise, we probably score a TD (or at least a FG) and extend or re-take the lead (can't recall which) - instead, the turnover completely changed the momentum to FLA. FLA moved the ball downfield 85 yds for a TD, added a FG, while LSU coaches went into panic mode after losing a couple of OL starters to injury - with no running attack and minimal creativity in the passing game to move the ball on offense, we lose - but, you shouldn't put that loss on Mett. THe play-calling in the FLA game was just about as conservative and choppy as the Clemson game (if that's at all possible).

Bobby Joe King & John King - Fair Park HS (Shreveport) in late 60's - early 70's.

Take it from someone who's lived around these Okies for 15+ years -

1) They had mixed feelings about Miles just like LSU fans with respect to his personality
2) They respected the fact that Miles quickly turned OSU into a program that competed strongly in the Big 12, but mainly held back no punches from the then-godlike figure known as Bob Stoops
3) He made his players, coaches, and fanbase believe in the direction he was taking the program; thus, (and timing is everything), Boone Pickens believed, and was financially back in a place where he was willing to ante up to improve the program, including the stadium and overall athletic facilities. Like many of us who have been in the O&G industry for years, Les didn't like all the smoke Pickens blew in people's faces, including the money-flashing. Les knew he'd be under the thumb of a golf coach, Mike Holder, who was Pickens' right-hand man, and Les wanted no part of it - Les is his own man. And, a lot of Okies (if they're honest with themselves) knew that too! In the past 2-3 years, as the OSU program has morphed into a much better program, EVERYONE, including Gundy and many angry detractors of Miles' leaving for LSU, acknowledge that Miles was the main reason for the turnaround of the OSU program. They were mainly upset because they got mixed message from Les during the LSU hiring process that he had no intention of leaving.....somewhat like the Saban situation, but not as aggregious. When Miles made it official, many OSU fans took the typical attitude of ....."well, he was a goof-ball anyway with his wild-arse press conference statements, so glad he's gone"! But, deep-down everyone knew Miles was smart to leave OSU for LSU....a much better job!

Coming from a big Les Miles supporter:

1) There is no arguing that Miles (and coaches) picked the wrong moments to be tricky or take risks; and
2) There is no arguing that Miles (and coaches) picked the absolute wrong moments to be conservative.

Yes, Miles and coaches had this team poised to beat Bama - the only thing that prevented this from happening Saturday night was poor clock management at the end of both halves coupled with unwise "prevent defense" at the end of both halves. Result = 14 unanswered points....emphasis on "unanswered"....because LSU had absolutely -0- time to respond...GAME OVER!

Let's face it - Miles & Coaches laid an egg during the clutch decision-making moments of this game or LSU wins...maybe by double-digits! Hard to swallow when the coaches (including Miles) had these guys ready to play and win....and the players played lights out!

What the hell is wrong with handing the ball off to Hill for an "over the top" dive?? He gained 2-3 yards (minimum)at least 3 times in during the night with this play....prior poster is correct...no momentum with a QB sneak, regardless of whether it's executed without juggling the snap or any other snafus. Sometimes, keeping things simple is just not "cool" enough, I guess.

Les, I've supported you through and through over the good and bad years, but this game you out-guessed yourself at least 4 times when simple logic dictated you keep it simple, Stupid. I still support you because the players love you and you always field a spirited and talented team - but, dammit.... get your head out of your arse and coach smart...."trickery" was not needed Saturday night - our players were BETTER than Bama's players, and all you did was "extend the myth" that Bama's team is better and Saban can out-coach you even on his worst day and your best day! THAT IS WHAT IS THE MOST SADDENING PART OF THIS WHOLE AFFAIR - IT AIN'T TRUE, BUT THE MEDIA WANTS TO KEEP BELIEVING....SO, THE MYTH CONTINUES!

Pretty good career so far, I'd say. Blast away, Pal.

And yes, he will be defended by most here - after all, he was a fairly unheralded RB going into the draft, considering like many RB's at LSU, could've gotten more carries and more PR at other schools.... and maybe drafted higher, but played great when he had his chances - the pros saw his value, and he's done pretty well for Indy and himself over the past several years in spite of nagging injuries from time-to-time. AND, he represented LSU very well during his college career...a consummate team player!

When healthy, the following:

Domanick Davis
Early Doucet
Joseph Addai
Jacob Hester
Rohan Davey
Chad Lavalais
Skyler Green

These are a few that come to mind - in no particular order.

quote:

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You can't concede the run between the tackles. That is why you must get rid of the spread interior linemen and run power football.

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This - you won't win championships, for sure.

Insofar as the comments that "we couldn't make it happen this year, I'm willing to concede that the OLine was not at its best this year. But, I cannot help but think that much of this had to do with the continual "shift" in blocking schemes as we rotated from play-to-play from "spread blocking" to "power blocking" - too much for our Oline to handle consistently. When we did commit to the run, we had success many times - we just abandoned it, though, in order to "show a different look". My opinion of "showing a different look" is to hit your TE or RB on a screen or hot route -or- throw some deeper balls to our tall, physical WR's. Or, roll your QB out of the pocket to give him more time to get the ball to his receivers. None of this was utilized to keep the defense off-balance with any consistency this year.

I disagree with an earlier point in the thread, I think the team is more built for a pro-set right now. Big receivers, big backs, good tight end. Les likes to create match up problems with numbers on passing downs, which creates protection problems. IMO, our top 3 receivers this year were match up problems by themselves. I think we would have been more effective with 3 receivers plus a safety valve, and keep 7 in to block.
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This, plus the comment about having a Tebow type who is durable and who sees the field well - without that type QB, the spread has limitations against good SEC defenses.

My belief is that Miles decided to shift to this type offense to lure spread-type players like Russell Shepard, who don't necessarily fit as well in a traditional "pro-set" offense. Plus, with 4 years of the Tebow era, it was the "sexy" thing to do.

I have been preaching going back to the more traditional sets all year long - if your Oline cannot protect the QB in a spread set, then you cannot stretch the field vertically - the end result is alot of "horizontal movement" along the line of scrimmage..... lots of wasted motion.

Our best games of the year (like the Bama game) is when we committed to the run and let Scott do his damage, kept 1-2 backs in tight to protect the QB, and allowed a 2-3 WR set to stretch the defense. We play this type offense against other opponents, we would've been much more consistent, more ball control, and would've looked much more like the dominating physical teams of LSU's past.

Need to get your qualification of a "bust". You bring up Marcus Spears as another possible bust, yet the guy's played in the league now for almost 5 years, he's started almost every game at DE on a pretty good defensive front for the Cowboys - not a shabby team to be a part of, I might say.

Superstars are few and far between in any sport - thus, the emphasis on "super". You sound like the a-hole who keeps pissing on David Toms just because he merely finishes in the Top 20 money winners this year, and can't hold a lead against Tiger! David Toms sucks too, huh?