Why Les Talked Smack about USC

no life. :hihi:

 

I remember being pissed when PC did that too but Mack Brown, Urban Meyer, Tommy Tubberville, Jim Tressel, all did it as well, and, arguably, our coach is before the season. Each example not exactly parallel, by no means, but agree or not, I'd expect the coach of any team to make their case. At least you are fair and consistent with your analysis. :thumb:

 

Pre-season rankings have nothing whatsoever to do with smack from a head coach. The rankings are based on what kind of roster the teams are fielding. How many starters are returning, etc. Schedule is also a factor. By the time Coach Miles made his remarks, most of the important pre-season polls were already out. I like Miles, but this is the second time he let his mouth run a bit too much. His remarks only served to provide USC with ammunition and motivation should we meet them at the end of the season. I can guarantee you that many of his remarks will be posted all over the USC locker room before the game. Now if LSU plays USC and loses (and don't tell me that can't happen) the Tigers and Miles will end up with egg all over their collective faces. Not smart.

 

:hihi:

 

You already do

 

I usually dislike anyone calling out anyone or any team before you have a chance to play them. In this case I'm cautiously okay with it. Why, because I believe CLM is coming into his own. I can't imagine a harder coaching job anyone has ever had to come into. Having to follow a successful coach who won an NC, then the whole Hurricane mess and how that season played out(our players cramped out against UT and were just dead tired against UGA in the SEC Champ game). He also had to work with everything new that first season. I look at CLM as just finishing his first full normal season with LSU last year. He now feels completely comfortable with who he is at LSU. I think he's just roaring a little bit like all Tigers like to do. I'm cool with anything he wants to say to fire fans and players up for this coming season. After watching his comments at halftime against UT I think that was the turning point in CLM taking hold of his team of Tigers. I'm extremely excited to have such a class, ethical and players coach leading our football team.

I'm happy to see him say what everyone already thinks, including other teams that are sick of the USC's and Notre Dame's of football. Heck, if we can put a whipping on USC in the NC game like we did against ND I could go ahead and die knowing my Tigers beat both those programs in back to back bowl games. Would that not be great. I also would feel the entire SEC nation would be behind us, especially Arkansas and Auburn.

 

I love it, I think Les has raised the bar and will draw a great deal of attention for LSU. It will snow-ball all season as long as we or fUSC don't lose two games. I also think this may be the impetus for many voters to go ahead and give LSU the #2 spot in a few weeks.

As for the billboard material issue, it's a matter of perspective. I'm not concerned. If Les has seen enough out of the Tigers to be that confident then it's gonna be a fun year.

 

I like that move by Miles, keeps up the LSU hype for the preseason rankings. But what is more important is to forget about this whole thing and just play it game by game. You never know when you'll lose so lets just keep our focus. Not to disrespect USC or anything but I think we might face tougher opponents during the season. Auburn has always been a very tough opponent, Florida is always packed with talent and you cant stop Arkansas' running game. Plus there'll be a loaded VT and a fired up Bama team. So, one game at a time.

 

I'm just curious why this has so many in an uproar. How did Les call out USC? Because he said he wanted to play them for the title? Most people have us pre-season #2 & #1, so how is this inflammatory? Some things to think about:

1. He said this for the benefit of the boosters just as his comments about bama were for the boosters. Quite a few of the fans are still pissed about '03 and he jumped on that.

2. He stated the obvious. Apparently sports writers can say this, but coaches have to be kiss asses. Week to week, the SEC is tougher than the PAC 10, and as a consequence, USC will have an easier road, their OOC games notwithstanding. They do not have to face top 25 ranked teams, week in and week out. In the SEC, this is the norm. Harder competition and facing them more often means more injuries at the end of the year. If this were not the case, why does everyone(I include USC fans) think that USC will waltz in to the NCG but LSU will have a hard time running the table in the SEC? Because we lack the talent? Hardly...

3.The SOS rankings are arrived at in a rather comical fashion and allows a team that plays the #1 team and #100 to have the same ranking as the team that plays the #49 and the #51. Both come out to a ranking of #50, but which team is more likely to lose a game?

4. The SEC will have 2-3 teams in the top 10 ALL YEAR, and 5-6 in the top 25 ALL YEAR. And we do this every year. The Pac 10 cannot say this at any time.

5. Les did not slam USC, he slammed their conference. He is choosing to not walk softly, in the tradition of coaches like Spurrier. I don't mind this at all. We will be favored in every match up this year(possibly excluding the NCG), and we should probably accept it.

6. He does not want to end up like Auburn did a couple of years ago - being snubbed. Making a case for the SEC, may help us at the end of the year. It seemed to have worked out for Florida, and though everyone cried "no class" about Meyer before the NCG, they didn't say jack about it after he dismantled OSU.

7. If you think that this is the fodder that USC will use as motivation to beat us, so be it. Considering the feelings between the fan bases the last 4-5 years on the message boards, I would say this is just one more stick. USC will show up to play whether we kiss their ass or not. I am not in to ass kissing.

8. The media lives for any kind of hype, especially so at this time of year. The fact that LSU is on the breath of so many people is a good thing. And don't cry about people's perception of us. They will all make assumptions about us regardless of what we say, because we are winning and their teams may not be. It is the way of college football. Believe me, other than USC fans, not many in the country "like" Pete Carroll, and yet he seems to be a genuinely good guy. Why is that? Because his team kicks the crap out of everyone and has done so for years now.

The wind blows hardest at the top. We may all need to get used to it if we want to stay up there.

 

Bonehead move IMO. Look where it got Tuberville when he pre-hyped his team all summer in '03.