Empty at the possibilities of what could have been. I've done alot of reflecting the past few days over my beloved Tigers and let me say this, I love Coach Miles, I think he is a great man, a great representative of LSU and a father figure to kids, alot of whom come from poverty and have no real father. All that aside I can't help but think of what could have been. I'll take you back to 2006. LSU in my opinion was the deepest, most talented team in the country. We were a weak performance at Auburn, and Florida away from a national championship. I feel we definitely let one get away that year, which unit pretty much blew it, offense. 2009, Chavis comes to town and rights the ship defensively, but again a stagnant offense keeps one of if not the most talented team in the country from a championship. 2010 same thing, a stagnant offense with no identity, 2 losses that very well could have been wins with any sign of an offense. 2011 same f'n thing. LSU very well could have and in my opinion should be a dynasty right now, and I can't help but feel that was thrown away due to stubbornness, and a coach who refuses to take his hands out of the offense. We have had great seasons with one of the worst starting quarterbacks and worst offensive showings in LSU history. I'm sorry if I sound like I'm whining but man, oh what could have been. I love ya coach, but damn, you cost us a few more crystal footballs for sure in my opinion.
Also let me express, I am in no way calling for a coaching change, I love Coach Miles, and I hope he retires here, I just really hope he realizes that LSU pays coordinators, let them do their jobs. Obviously Chavis has freedom, find an offensive guy and give him the power to do it his way.
I couldn't agree with you more. This is exactly how I feel. It took a long time for me to turn into a Miles supporter. I've always felt he is a good man and is great at the aspects of coaching that you just can't quantify. But like most people, I've always known he's not a great X's and O's guy and that finally hurt us badly in the BCSNC. He needs to turn the offense over to a highly qualified specialist like he's done with Chavis and get out of the way. From everything I've read it appears that Miles allowed personal bad blood toward J Lee to get it the way of the right coaching decisions. He couldn't wait to yank Lee and he did so the first chance he got after the 2 interceptions on Nov 5, and never looked back. He allowed stubborn pride to ruin a historic season. Pride comes before a fall and that is exactly what happened on Mon. He allowed his foolish pride to ruin a season for a lot of people. I don't want the man gone but it's clear he's done a lot of damage to the faith his players and fans have in him and he needs to do some major revamping of the way he coaches. That offensive performance was the worst I've ever seen. That horrendous performance completely changed how I look at LSU football. Never again will I allow myself to be pulled into it as emotionally as I have my entire life.
I don't think it was as much "the QB" as much as the offense we run. As Lasalle noted ... 2006, JL and JJ were nowhere to be found. LSU's problem is they do not exploit all the possibilities. You don't need a ton of plays to do so, 30 at most. .. I"d say 15 at least. Miles ... and I'll go on record .. I"ve NEVER been a Miles hater, and still am not a Miles Hater ... but Miles needs to open up the offensive possibiities. I know we'd all like to go back to the days of yesteryear, when run run run was all you needed, but todays defenses are much more sophisticated than the ones of yesteryear. You MUST have the options to exploit the weakness of your opponent. AND ..you MUST be attentive as to what that weakness is. Either JJ or Lee could have gone undefeated this year with the right play set. [yes .. I've said it before .. I'll say it again .. Lee could have beat Bama the first game!]. I mean ... just look around at the league and pick out the most high percentage plays .. and have them in your playbook to go along with what you prefer. It's what worries me about next year. There we will have a star QB .. but will we use him to his maximum capacity. Only time will tell.
I understand and agree. It is crazy to let a bunch of 18-22 year old boys have that much effect on our outlook. I learned that lesson during our 6 year losing streak in the 90's. We can love, enjoy and criticize LSU and football without letting it grab us so much and letting kids we have no control over control our emotions. :geaux:
Another thing about Miles. He makes things so much harder on himself by not utilizing all of his weapons. He has so much talent at his disposal but never fully utilizes them. Last year is a great example. We won 11 games with JJ's *****ty QB play but probably could have done even more if he would have used D. Peterson a lot more. We all know the TE is a struggling QB's best friend. Have the TE chip in on a block then roll out to the flat for 3-6 easy yards. Instead he's got JJ in 5 step drops trying to read defenses with that peanut of a brain he's got. Never going to happen. There are so many games that LSU could have blown wide open and instead he insists on vanilla playcalling. Miles also seems to view any misdirection besides play-action as some sort of affront to "real" football players. Misdirection is the one aspect the offense has over the defense and he rarely utilizes it.
The "what-if?" game cuts both ways. What if Jamarcus actually throws to a receiver in the end zone at Auburn in '06 instead of 5 yards short? That was a split-second decision Les can't make for him. The fact that we got as much out of Jamarcus as we did given his pro career is a tribute to what Jimbo did. What if our crack defense actually manged to blitz a statue pocket QB for Kentucky and not given up a win they never should have in '07? Would we have needed the favor of the BCS gods to sniff the title game? By the same token, what if UGA hadn't dropped 2 games earlier that season? They were the hottest team at the end of the season that year. Asking "what if" is pointless, it always leaves you disappointed and there's no way to know what might have been. We have to deal in reality. And reality came crashing in on Les Miles' head 4 days ago. If he's the coach that Skip thought he was when he was hired, then he'll use this to grow and improve, just like the players will. We're arguably deeper now at QB than we have been at any point in the last decade, including under the vaunted Nick Saban. And we have a proven QB coach to develop them. Let's see what Les makes of this opportunity before resigning ourselves to defeatism about what's to come.
Maybe he could watch some BAMA,SAINTS,and PATRIOTS tape and see how to use one. I agree D.peterson /Clement was greatly under utilized in a time of need.
Yep ... we all saw who beat us this past game. It wasn't TR .. it was that TE .. Smelly ..or Shelly .. or who ever he was.
