When our coach talks like this it is very hard for me to listen to. It isn't a mindset that I agree with. He sounds like a damn fan who has no control on the outcome of the game. But that said, Saban had some ugly games against Ole Miss. Add to it that Ole Miss came out fired up and took the momentum from us early and into the second half. Our guys took the sissys' best shot and still came back to win the game. Bad games happen. It is hard to accept Miles' glowing optimism, but it is hard to argue with the sheer number of Ws so far. WTF happened on special teams? Do we really have an offensive line? Ole Miss looked like they were dominating the line on offense and defense. The way they were running made me nervous about the Arkansas game. One thing I will say - Saban had an excellent year every other year, and so far Miles has had two solid years. When Miles has an excellent year I think he'll deserve to be mentioned with Saban. Until then he'll be like Mack Brown pre-2005. Which isn't "bad."
He was joking! I heard it too. He said it seriously, but I sure hope he was joking. You are right, he was outcoached, we were outplayed and we still won. No excuse to be a close game, but we seemed to be flat. Everyone that plays ball at one time or another has a game where they just can't put it together and beat a team they should. This was ours. It was fun having a close game at home, though. That's the loudest I've heard it in awhile.
Look, first of all the title of my post was half joking as a play off on that other thread. Second of all, I'm glad we won. Very glad. Third, most people seem to defend a coach until the wheels come off. This team could be 8-4 and I could be very happy or 9-2 and I could be depressed. Why? Because, wins are short term. What I am interested in is the direction of the program. The Ole Miss teams that Saban played were much better than these teams. Remember Manning and Cutcliffe. Saban took this team from a perennial underachiever to a perennial national title contender. Of course, he made mistakes, but I always felt comfortable with him as coach. I always felt we were headed in the right direction. I disagreed with some coaching decisions like keeping Randall at quarterback, but I still thought we had as good a coach as anyone. I am usually one of the first ones to jump off a mediocre coach's bandwagon: Ditka, Haslett, etc. I always get bashed for pointing out what I'm seeing. People said, "You think Haslett's mediocre; he just won a playoff game a season ago." But, I wasn't watching short term wins. I was watching how the team performed to see how well they were coached. With Saban I always thought we couldn't ask for better coaching even when we'd go through stretches when Saban was outcoached. With Payton, I feel the Saints could not ask for a better coach. Whether they win or lose the close ones, the coaching is solid and better than the talent. Miles is still playing with Saban's talent. Saban did not have anywhere near this level of talent when he first got here. We won because of coaching. Many of Miles' starters learned under Saban's staff. So, I'm glad we won; I hope I'm wrong, but I'm usually right about this type of thing. Look at the game tapes from this year, tell me if this is a well-coached special teams. Look at the game tapes this year, tell me how well the offensive line appears to be coached. Isn't that Miles specialty? And yet they are the most underperforming unit on offense or defense? Do you remember the secondaries being poorly coached under Saban? Do you see poorly coached offenses under Payton? Why? Because they are good coaches, and Miles is average at best. I guess most people are happy with average. You can spin it how you like and look at the record as long as the coach wears purple and gold he always knows more than us ignorant fans who have been watching this game 12 hours per week for our whole life. I mean this is such brain surgery that us poor dumb fans can't figure it out. B.S.: I know when I see a drop linebacker. Les is a drop linebacker with too much talent for it to show yet.
When did LSU fans turn into Miami fans? Undefeated and in the NC game every year or fire the coach...... Close games happen, we can't blow out every opponent.
You need to get out of Louisiana once in a while. Many people in certain parts of the country (Kansas, especially) prnounce Arkansas with an emphasis on "Kansas". I have heard it pronounced that way many times. Do you say cat-SUP or ketchup?
Re: Even though LSU won, fire Miles! Some are just dumb!!! What part of a lifetime of playing do you not understand ?? Most of my cousins lived out of Louisiana , in fact most of them lived in a town called Liberty Mississippi. Just north of Baton Rouge . When LSU and Ole Miss Played it was a family war almost . We sent letters back an forth phone calls telling about how our team was the best . It was a HELL OF A GAME !! WE WON !!!!OH by the way (BTW) the coach cannot stop the players from doing what we do , reading the paper , going into message boards , and seeing the point spread. The team like us , the fans , thought that the Ole Miss team would just like a road whore , would roll over . But that Ole Miss team had it'd back up against the wall, and they played with all the heart of a fighter . Just like some of the bar room fights I have been in . Odds are your gonna get your a**(Butt) beat !! But with your back against the wall you can let the SOBs know that you are there !! And it is a fact , we know that Ole Miss was there !! I got a phone call after the game form one of my cousins , in Liberty Mississippi, he said "We almost beat you . It was a good team . I am proud of the Ole Miss team !" Guess What ?? I am proud of this LSU TEAM < from msully in Nashville Tennessee I think they will win next week !! They have found away to win , I to be honest with you , gave up in the last minuite ! I left the room and went outside . What did you Do ?? If you stayed by the TV or your radio you are a better man than I was , I was shocked LSU won !!
Gotta call BS on this. In which year other than '03 was LSU a nat'l title contender again? 2001? Nope. 2002? We dropped 4 games. 2004? Dropped 2 games early, never in the mix. That one magical year of 2003 has sadly tainted your memory of the entire Nick Saban era. Or maybe you were talking about recruiting rankings? This is obvious since these superior coaches never almost lose (or even worse, LOSE.. the horror!) to teams they are favored heavily over. Well, almost never.. yeah, so Richt did lose to Vandy this year.. and there was that AU loss to UGA.. Fulmer did completely lay an egg last year.. Spurrier almost lost to Wofford this year.. etc etc etc. Ultimately, I'm not necessarily disagreeing with your "program going in wrong direction" statement. I just can't exactly figure out what your evidence is. '05 was a pretty darn good year even though we did have to win some close ones. And '06 hasn't been too bad given the schedule. The O-line has had issues for years now (funny that no one ever calls out Searles on this). I don't like the direction our special teams are taking, I guess.. although the extra-point problems of '04 still reek worse than this year. Yes, the game last night was closer than it should have been, but all superior teams deal with that sort of thing from time to time, it's part of what makes CFB so dang fun.
I REALLY wish some on this board could get past the Saban b.s. as it is getting real old. Also, it is pretty sad that an opposing team's fan, who we will NEVER play unless it is in a BCS bowl game, is posting more intelligently about our coaching situation. everyone is entitled to their opinions as this is an open public forum, but canning a coach now would be assinine and set the program back several years.......think about it knee jerkers. and, welcome to the board Penn State fan!
