Tigers - Handcuffed and broken spirit

Rumors are spreading that Slive spoke with Miles and threatened him with a 2-game suspension.

 

Call me crazy, but that might have been a threat worth challenging if it only meant Miles couldn't be on the sideline for those two games. Think of the further damage Slive would do to his reputation, not to mention that Miles would become a martyr. The players would know beyond a doubt that Les is 100% and potential recruits will think "wow if my team and I are right this guy is going to defend us". Baseball managers get ejected all the time, sometimes they do it on purpose to fire their team up. I know if I were a player I would be inspired.

Unless the SEC Gestapo were to bar him from practices and have him sequestered during the games, there is no reason why he couldn't coach the game from a remote location. Joe Paterno coached from the press box last season. Les could have coached by phone just as easily.

 

Bama has a great defense and LSU's offense is one of the most unproductive in the country, statistically. So to say that LSU would definitely have won the game is a reach IMO. Had the offense actually been able to score, then I think the defense may have been able to keep Bama out of the endzone. But that is not even a given because the D was clearly tired, Peterson was ailing, and Bama knew it.

All that said - the call DEFINITELY changed the momentum and the flow of the football game. That, more than anything, is the real tragedy of this. These guys aren't professionals getting a paycheck (players). They're kids playing with heart and grit. And when kids get kicked in the junk, it takes the wind out of them for a while. IMO - it basically decided the game.