D. Peterson confirms what has frustrated LSU fans for years.

Bama had the nation's top defense. When your entire offensive game plan consists of making that defense cover no more than 10 yards beyond the line of scrimmage, that makes them look like an all-century team. Did it have to do with the Bama front 4 dominating our OL? No question. Did it have to do with a below-average QB who has never been able to throw downfield consistently? Absolutely. And most fans can deal with that.

What fans can't accept, however, is the fact that Les let two viable weapons at QB twiddle their thumbs on the bench after it became clear to every last person with a functioning brain that the QB in the game was never going to get anything done. That in a game for the greatest prize in this sport on the line, we didn't throw everything we had at Bama. That is what the fans are up in arms about.

There's no shame in losing to a great team. There is when you inexplicably don't use every tool at your disposal to win an all-out war. But we also need to come to grips with the fact that we will never get an official explanation for why. It's past time to move on.

 

I get it. All I'm saying is, there is a difference between not coaching effort and being stubbornly determined to do things your way.

I believe that is exactly what coach Saban did in the first game. AJ was made so aware of mistakes and not losing the game, he did. It's been speculated and said many times already in BamaLand, that losing was the best thing that could have happened in our rematch. It guaranteed a commitment to take what the defense can't keep. Great coaches, are by nature, stubborn people. And when they get enlightened, it's usually through the school of hard knocks. If coach Miles is there again next year, a lot of things may happen, but trying not to lose the game, ain't gonna be one of them.

 

Well Tusk and I consider you a great member here one of the few level headed fans around (for either team) you also respect the fact this is an LSU Board and I am happy we a rival fan such as yourself. Makes for a spirited debate.
BUT
"that losing was the best thing that could have happened in our rematch"

this is exactly the reason many of us find the whole thing bunk.
Whatever happened in the first game. Happened. LSU won. Sure the Bama faithful said "We lost that game LSU didnt win" but the fact remains LSU won that game. And there is not a single LSU fan on the planet thought it was fair to give Bama a 2nd chance. There was only 1 team in the nation that could beat us last year. Bama...... and LSU did what was asked. They went into their barn and won. Not pretty but there were two teams on that field. Why was the "Wait that game didnt count" make it ok ?
Imagine if you were in our shoes. Bama came to LSU beat us on our own field in the game of the century and some in the media and some votes said "Wait no, that didnt count, try again"
So i truly Believe Bama was the better team that night. I also truly believe if those teams play 10 times it finishes 5-5.
LSU should have played Okie State. Was bama the 1 or 2 team in teh nation sure they were, but for us even before the game we knew bad things were going to happen.
LSU had everything to lose. Bama had nothing to lose and like the shirts you guys wear these days "We won the one that counted" that will always be a sore spot for us. Why didnt the first game count? One could argue it did as it launched us into the West and SEC championships. But still why the double jeopardy for us. Again seriously imagine if the shoe was on the other foot. The Bama faithful would be screaming bloody murder.

So with that said, I tip my hat to Bama Saban and the Bama team beat LSU fair and square and did it in amazing fashion. It sickens us that the LSU team we saw all year failed to show up and our trusted coach panicked and didnt have a plan B. Bama won fair and square THAT GAME. But in reality LSU and Bama are tied 1-1. But life is not fair and life goes on.
IN the end its just a game and not a single one of us played in it.
All we get was a stinkin t-shirt.

 

It's true, Alabama didn't have to play their way into the big dance and we dang near lost all our BCS poll margin because of it. But what did the rest of the BCS world see with the other two candidates?

This Okie Lite you keep saying wasn't Bama worthy, suffered from the same shortcomings we did. They did not have to risk it all in a CCG. Any other year in the big 12, Bama couldn't have made up the difference, had the cowboys had those extra brownie points from a championship game. That left Stanford to make up the difference. Well, Oregon was too busy playing a 6 loss UCLA team for all the marbles, to give the Pac 12 team with the best record, a crack at the title. No BCS brownie points for you. Of the top 4 BCS teams, LSU was the only team to play that extra game in a conference championship. Ironically, they were the only one undefeated and the only team who didn't need the extra points. They were also the only one of the 4 that had everything to lose.

So Alabama was hurt by not being in Atlanta, points wise, but the other two weren't there either. Checkmate and rematch.

 

One of the local BR radio jocks used to have a semi-regular segment called the SWAC/MEAC sloppy football challenge. He'd basically read off box scores from one of those games where the teams combined for 1500 yards of offense, and the winning QB went 57/95 for 600 yards and 7 picks.

That was what watching Oregon/UCLA was like. What a joke.

 

Yes, you'd like that to be the narrative. LSU must have hit the same brick wall against Georgia for 30 min? An even stronger brick wall in fact, because they didnt get a single first down. LSU must have hit a meatgrinder against the Hogs to get down big. LSU must not be as good as Georgia Southern which ran all over the Bama "brick wall."

Don't fool yourself. LSU has other issues.

LSU showed a late season trend where it took them a little bit longer every game to get going, culminating in the NCG where they never got going.

My opinion of this year's Bama and LSU teams, now that its all over? Fantastic defenses, mediocre offenses.

 

Power football comes at you for 4 quarters. What ain't working in the 1st, may be overwhelming in the 4th. LSU averaged about 40 points a game this season. That was better than Arkansas per game. More dynamic than the razorback's offense, not really. LSU's defense creates short fields, turnovers, chaos, for 4 quarters.

Coach Miles played to his strength against Bama. It's just that Bama happens to play the exact same way. By the way, Alabama also scored more points per game than Arkansas.

 

You and others saying its time to move on have a point. But first...

I was one of the handful of people defending Les around here during the previous 3 seasons. And I'm not calling for his head. Wouldnt even say I'm bashing him.

But I will say if he EVER again has an LSU team play that badly in one of the biggest games in Tiger history, I will be demanding a new coach. If the Tiger's go 13-0 next year and again FLOP in the NCG, wait until you see my rant.

Once could be a fluke. Twice is a pattern.

 

Before I even begin to consider your "bama brick wall" thesis, please explain:

1. How do you explain LSU's first half against Georgia? Take your best shot.

LSU scored a crapload of points this season too. Yet I'm calling their offense mediocre (and only because I'm in a good mood as I write this, or I might bump it down from mediocre). Bama played a lot of weak teams this year and your offense benefited from your defense, just like ours did. Your defense? Impressive. Your offense? *yawn*

 

This almost isn't even worth responding to. Nobody is in a position to demand squat. If you have a short list of coaches guaranteed to match Les' winning percentage AND win an NC, that LSU can afford to pay at the same time we have to shell out money for Les' buyout, then I would love to see it.