After a day to rant, b!tch, and moan about yesterday's loss, ai think now is a good time to try to figure out what happened against Penn State. As we lost that game by doing the same screw ups that led to our other loses, we can also say what has happened this year with football. Once again, the offense struggled with penalties, dropped passes, and basic fundamentals. Gary Crowton continues to amaze me by trying to do the same plays each game with mediocre results at best. I can almost hear him say "It'll work one day, we just have to keep trying." RS and Dickson were virtually absent yesterday. Not to say that they would have broken records, but there was no harm putting them in if their healthy to see what would happen. Our Defense held together fairly well, holding Penn State to one touchdown. Yeah, they scored four fieldgoals, but if the offense worked, it wouldn't have mattered. There were some bone head penalties against us (see infamous personal foul on the last drive), but it should never have come down to that. I know the field was horrible, and the stadium looks like it needs to be torn down, but Penn State didn't have anywhere near as many problems with it as we did. Thoughts?
A lot of our problems can be rightly placed at the feet of Gary Crowton. However, for now the second straight year, we have seen an appalling lack of urgency and discipline as the season progressed, and that is ALL on Les Miles. Ultimately, HE is the one who has to instill that in his assistants and players. Bowl season is the time of year when truly good teams peak and play their best ball of the season. Instead, as others have pointed out, from a net performance perspective this team is no better now than it was in September. That is an untenable and unacceptable situation from a coach making the kind of money Les Miles is. I think the whole "Les is winning with Saban's players" is a load of garbage and has been thoroughly debunked. However, it also seems clear now that Miles is not the coach he was from 2005-2007.
He seems to have gotten more streaky, as a coach. I still think a majority of it is Crowton, but Miles has made some mistakes that are hard to argue with. In fairness, every coach screws up sometimes, it's all in how those mistakes factor into a win or loss. Miles' has ended up in a loss, particularly against Ole Miss. There is a lack of urgency in the Offense though, which needs to end. I think it will when Crowton is gone.
Complacency is a biatch... since we won 34 games our first 3 years under Miles, maybe he feels like all we have to do is walk out onto the field and we'll get the W. GC severely handicaps this team, and the evidence he's run out of offense is his track record at his previous stops before LSU added with the stuck in neutral offense we saw this entire season and into the Cap1 bowl. So we went from 12 wins in '07 to 8 wins in '08 to 9 wins in '09... another year under GC and we'll be an 8-5 team every season. Just good enough for everyone to keep employment and draw raises in an already fund depleted state. Can't we pull a tonya harding on GC?
I have watched more LSU football this year than EVER. Every time, when I see the team run out, I am filled with thoughts that we are invincible. Then reality hits. We are a top 25 team, that is about it. I think our coaching is poor and our players do not play very smart, coaching again. Not sure the defense is as good as some of you guys think. Several times yesterday, there were two receivers at the top of the screen and only one defender in sight, within 10 yards. Hate to say it but in several other bowls yesterday, with our performance fresh in my mind, our guys did not measure up to many on the other teams, I and ain't just talking about FL either. Regardless of who is/was responsible, we did not measure up. I am a big believer in personal responsibility and the "buck stops here." I also a big believer in LSU winning the SEC West, the SEC, and the National Championship every year. I know it won't happen, but that is still my expectation. Can I accept less, yes, but I don't like it. Also, please recognize that just like many of you don't like OBAMA and his policies, but still love the US of A, many of us love and will always love LSU, but we do not necessarily like the current leadership and his plays/players performance. The whole is much greater than the sum of the parts. In nationalism and in football. hwr
I disagree with this statement, I dont see LSU winning 8 games next year under Crowton play scheme and play calling, if he stays I say 7-5 will be the best by looking at the schedule, the rest of the SEC west is getting better and with Crowton here LSU will stay the same lackluster-ed offense, next year with him we could easily be 5-7. I dont care to see Miles go yet but if he keeps Crowton for next year and the results dont change for the better then both should be fired.
I agree with this too... unfortunately that'll be the end result. If he was going to fire GC he'd have done it already. But I still think we somehow manage to win 8 games.
