That was the whole point that the Doctor of Ignorance @TigerTap doesn't understand. After his first 3 seasons Les had only lost 6 games. If somebody had told him that in an interview situation you can bet your last dollar that Les wouldn't have said, "That's 6 games too many." If Les had that same attitude he might be as unhappy as Saban but LSU wouldn't have lost 5 games in 2008 and would have at least one more national championship.
I think Les is extremely consistent, as a coach. I do NOT think he's 1 of the top 5 college coaches in the country, but I do believe he's in the Top 15, probably. And he's fortunate enough to be in a recruiting hot bed, and at a Top 15 program. There is no one that can deny what that 2011 team was - awesome, loaded, devastating, etc. That team was 100% his. And the 2007 team was 3 years after Saban had left. Having said that, "average Les Miles" has had 2 of the best teams EVER assembled at LSU, in his 11 years here. He definitely deserves credit for that.
Tommy Casanova played for the Bengals. He told a story about how he went to the hospital in cincy and doctors and nurses there didn't even know Cincinnati had a football team.
Maybe they were baseball fans. When Casanova was with the Bengals was about the time of The Big Red Machine.
I think Les' fire burns as hotly as Saban's does, but I'm not sure he's wired the same. I think in a way, he's sometimes a little too confident in those he believes in. That's likely rooted in how he relates to people so well because he can relate to anyone and when you're with him he believes in you. It would have served LSU well that when the rematch in the BCS game with Bama had Les not had so much confidence in his gameplan and the ability to beat Bama because he already had. Recall Saban came out and allowed the OC to throw the ball routinely on downs they always ran it on -- but they changed it up because they lost that game to LSU. So it's a razor thin line in the SEC between a good season and a title winning season. That 2011 team against any other team in the country crushes them. Bama had everything in their favor. Credit to them, but Saban still lost to Les at home that year -- and Les outcoached him in that 9-6 OT win in their house. An average coach doesn't and cannot do that.
About that gameplan. As soon as I saw that Alabama was going to be the opponent I knew for a certainty that Miles would use the same tactics that had had the limited success in the first game, ie. JJ options. And I knew with an equal certainty that Nick Saban would know that Miles would do that and that Saban would have a game plan to render that ineffective and that if LSU were to be able to win Les would have to make adjustments. He didn't even after not crossing the 5o, repeated 3 and outs leading to the greatest defense in LSU history getting worn out like Les had exposed them to Kryptonite.
youve been doing it for a long time. i figured you should know. the restraint i show is never appreciated.
