You're giving us fans too much credit/blame. Les doesn't listen to talk radio or read message boards. He freaked out on his own.
Who said anything about a run\pass ratio, pay attention. Miles has had one season with a legitimate passing game since 2007.
My view of LSU football is probably a lot like yours, by that I mean, on the outside looking in. I tried to pull that "Miles is running the offense, not Cam" line on a prominent LSU beatwriter a couple of weeks ago, and he reacted like I had suddenly sprouted an asshole in the middle of my forehead.
Well, they did average 201 yards a game in '08. That's pretty good production in a run-first offensive mentality. But if you're measuring Miles' understanding of a passing offense strictly by production (yardage, completion percentage, etc) and not by play calling, then at some point, you have to acknowledge that once the play begins, its on the players to execute. If the game plan has a reasonable balance of run-to-pass, but the quarterback isn't executing the throws or the receiver aren't making the catch, you can't say "the coach doesn't know anything about a passing game." And you can't necessarily fault the coaching in terms of QB development in the current case either. Its hardly fair to hold Harris, who is less than a year and a half out of high school, to the same standard as 2013 Mettenberger, who was a 5th year senior in his third year with the program.
i guarantee you, there are still many writers who agree that Les Miles has hands all in and all over the offense. It may to a lesser extent now that Cam is here because he trusts Cam, but there is no way he isn't still heavily involved with the playbook.
Get real. You are describing every head coach in the history of football. It's his team. His offense--his defense. The coordinators are just that. Some coordinators are better than others of course, some have a lot of control, some have a little. But every head coach is "heavily involved" with his offense. It's his job on the line.
And this would be an offensive team up until maybe this year that the OC had very little control and it's evident, and by control I don't mean calling plays, yes fuck we know the OC calls the plays for christs sake. You're trying to steer away from the point. No shit every coach has control over their team. We are talking about the degree involvement and oversight. If you think Les is just as involved in the defense as he is in the offense you're nuts. I'm sure Jimbo and Meyer are both heavily involved in their offenses as well but guess what, they are offensive gurus. Les isn't.
Then why all of the grumbling about Les having control of his? He operates no differently than any other coach. He and his coordinator cannot implement more passing than the capability of their quarterback to deliver. So far, Harris is nothing close to Mettenberger or Russell. He's better than the freshman Jarret Lee, but not the senior. When Harris steps up, so will the passing game from the coaches.
I'm not holding Harris to any standard, I'm simply seeing what every coach in the nation sees when they prepare for LSU. Except for the lone Metteneburger senior season opposing teams know to stack the box and dare LSU to throw the ball. Passing yards should be through the roof facing that defense every week, season after season. However Miles has had a hard time recruiting and developing QB's capable of taking advantage even with quality offensive lines and a stout running game. You can spin numbers and stats all day, that doesn’t give LSU a respectable passing offense even when the defense is begging them to throw the ball. I've given credit where credit is due, Harris does look improved and we have a stable of highly touted WRs to throw to. But you can't say that even close to a majority of the time Miles fields a passing game capable of getting defenses out of the box, it just isn't happening. It's not just personnel either. Many teams with lesser talent find ways to throw the football. Make all the excuses you want, the entire planet knows Miles offenses have trouble throwing the football.
