LSU football coach Les Miles’ teams have always seemed to have an excuse for underachieving, but now enough is finally enough.
Last year it was inexperience at quarterback and a bad defense. It was a bad call on an interception this season against Alabama.
What’s the new excuse for Saturday?
It shouldn’t even matter anymore because what occurred Saturday was some of the most painful exhibitions of both “football” and “coaching” I’ve ever seen in my life.
There’s simply no excuse for LSU to look as bad as it did during that game.
I’ll recap a bit of what happened.
LSU had just scored but missed a two-point conversion attempt and trailed Ole Miss by two, 25-23.
The Tigers were successful on an onside kick attempt and were stationed at their own 42-yard line after a 26-yard catch by senior wide receiver Brandon LaFell.
Two plays later, it all went to hell for the Tigers.
Jefferson took a sack on second down and threw a bad screen pass to sophomore running back Stevan Ridley, which lost LSU 7 yards on third down, bringing up a fourth down with 26 yards to go with 26 seconds on the game clock.
Instead of calling a timeout immediately and trying to regroup, the coaches let 17 seconds dwindle off the clock before calling that timeout.
Miles claims it was a miscommunication, but that’s no excuse.
With nine seconds left, Jefferson heaved a 42-yard bomb to junior wide receiver Terrance Toliver, which got the Tigers to the Ole Miss 6-yard line with one second left.
Then, instead of rushing the field goal team out or calling some hurry up play or attempting anything that would net the Tigers some points, Jefferson spiked the ball, and time expired.
“I know there was a lot of confusion on the sideline,” Jefferson said in a postgame interview. “Nobody knew what to do.”
Why didn’t they know what to do?
Les Miles is the head coach. He should be the one making the decisions in that situation, and he should know better than to attempt a spike in that situation.
At least he took the blame for the loss after the game, but words are probably not going to be enough in this situation.
The people are demanding a sacrifice.
And while it’s probably too pricey to get rid of Miles thanks to his contract buyout, someone on his staff needs to be given their walking papers.
Gary Crowton needs to be that sacrificial lamb.
All he’s done in the past two seasons at LSU is set offensive football back a few years and make it, for lack of a better word, offensive.
In 2007, when the good times were rolling, he was called “The Wizard.” Nowadays, he’s more like “The Dunce.”
His play-calling style can only be described as erratic, unpredictable and illogical.
The Tigers only attempted 18 rushes with their running backs during the game, although Jefferson was obviously gun-shy and timid in his first game back from what appeared to be a pretty serious injury.
Ridley didn’t even see a rushing attempt until late in the fourth quarter.
There is no excuse to not give the ball to your stud running backs more often. It’s just poor coaching to do otherwise.
LSU was only mostly in the game Saturday because of a blocked field goal and a scoring drive that started near midfield. Saturday was a prime example of why LSU is currently sitting at No. 110 in total offense nationally and is near the bottom of the Southeastern Conference in many offensive statistical categories of note.
Crowton, thanks for the memories, but your time in Baton Rouge appears to be up.
LSU can do better than this.
Johanathan Brooks is a 21-year-old mass communication senior from Powder Springs, Ga. Follow him in Twitter @TDR_JBrooks.
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Contact Johanathan Brooks at jbrooks@lsureveile.com
24 comments
Why ask kids to choose LSU among all of the top feeders across the conference and nation, put their bodies out there on the line play after play, and not have the lights on in the coaches' offices? When generals send soldiers needlessly into harm's way, it's called negligence.
Great players (LSU-2007) make a decent coach look great (Miles-2007) in one of the most talented and fastest conferences in the nation; good players can make him look mediocre in that same conference. Miles and Croton are mediocre field strategists in the SEC when the compretition really heats up.
Let the search begin.
Pigeon Town Jim
Matthews, NC
GeauxTIgers.