re: What is the your biggest Les Miles mystery during his tenure?

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Florida, WV, and Miss St had a better defense than Arkansas in 2011.

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I'll give you Florida was better, but Lee threw 10 passes against them. JJ played too. And again, that was a game where our D and ST absolutely dominated.

LSU Passing
C/ATT YDS AVG TD INT
J. Lee 7/10 154 15.4 1 0
J. Jefferson 3/4 61 15.3 1 0
Team 10/14 215 15.4 2 0



But WV did not have a better D than Arky and Arkansas beat MSU 44-17 the week before they played LSU. I do think Lee's game against MSU was his best in 2011 though.

That was a very tight, low scoring D struggle and Lee's TD to Randle after throwing a costly pick really won that game for us. He deserves props for that one for sure.

But again, everyone says Miles looked for ANY excuse to bench Lee for JJ. That just isn't true. Lee started FIVE more games after JJ was reinstated. Not to mention that MILES SUSPENDED JJ for FOUR games for some stupid arse bar fight!! If he was so in love with JJ he would have suspended him for a game, MAYBE. JJ had not been found guilty of anything, and several other players were involved as well.

JJ ended up paying a $150 fine for an offense that got him suspended for 1/3 of his senior year, and that was by all accounts his first indiscretion. Don't get me wrong, I think Miles did the right thing suspending him, but if he was so "in love" with JJ like so many claim, he certainly could have come up with a less harsh punishment.

Plus, after Lee threw an awful pick against Bama, and JJ coming out and giving us some stability in the first half, Miles put Lee back in as the starter in the second half. What did he do? Threw an even worse pick. He simply couldn't attack that D. It was obvious.

It's hard to admit, but LSU pulled off a HUGE upset by beating Bama the first time. It simply wasn't going to happen again no matter who played QB unless our D and ST won the game for us.


I love Miles, but the biggest mistake he ever made was saying he'd "be honored" to play Bama again. They asked him that question while he was still on the fricking field after the game, and I have no doubt if he had more time to think about the ramifications, he would have answered differently.

He should have said something like:

"That was a classic battle between two great teams, but we've got several games left to go and there are lots of great teams from conferences all around the country that would love the chance to play the SEC Champion. I hope we continue to win so that team can be LSU and we can represent this conference against the best the other conferences have to offer. I have that want "

Done. Okie State goes to New Orleans, especially after they shite stomped OU on the day we crush UGA in Atlanta while Bama is sitting at home.

Because honestly, isn't that how the SEC became so dominant?? Beating Oklahoma, Ohio State, UT, and Oregon for the crystal??

No one around the country cared about 1/9, which is why it was the lowest NCG of the BCS era.

People want to see what the best from the country can do against the mighty SEC. Not some back patting Rematch that they already saw end in a 9-6 OT game.

That is why ESPN's pushing of that game would have been so comical if it wasn't so damn unfair to us. They asked for this game thinking it was going to be some ratings giant based on CBS' rating in November, but NO ONE wanted to see it again, and their hand picked rematch was a ratings embarrassment.

Sucks that they are so dumb that they couldn't see that coming, or we would have played OSU without question.

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I love Miles, but the biggest mistake he ever made was saying he'd "be honored" to play Bama again.

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Same here, and agree. But Les is a throwback to Bo and a better time. Course if OSU had any concept of what a D is and beat ISU... Oh well.

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And for all the "the O got worse after JJ" crowd,

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I have to smile every time I hear, "the O got worse after JJ", and wonder what LSU football those who believe that stuff were watching.

The O did rely more on the run, but the total O/scoring increased once the change was made.

Probably the biggest favor Coach ever gave JL was leaving him on the bench for the title game. That way, he's forever championed for the 13-0 start and gets no blame for our 1 loss.

With all due respect to both our 2011 Sr QBs, we didn't start 13-0 cause of our QB play and we didn't lose our 1 game cause of QB play. imo

As to this thread, my biggest mystery was how did we only get one play off in the final 32 secs of the 2010 Vol game.

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But again, everyone says Miles looked for ANY excuse to bench Lee for JJ. That just isn't true.

After throwing an awful pick against Bama, and JJ coming out and giving us some stability, Miles put Lee back in as the starter in the second half. What did he do? Throw an even worse pick. He simply couldn't attack that D. It was obvious.

It's hard to admit, but LSU pulled off a HUGE upset by beating Bama the first time. It simply wasn't going to happen again no matter who played QB unless our D and ST won the game for us.

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While I agree with everything you said, is that really reason enough to bench Lee for the remainder of the season? Up until the Alabama game, Lee was the most efficient passer in the SEC. He converted 3rd downs, and he had the accuracy to make defenses pay for stacking the box (something we did not see much of this past season) - I just don't think throwing 2 picks against the number 1 defense in the country is reason to bench a QB that, up to that point, had a fantastic year for a QB that has been completely inconsistent?

I still think it would have been a different game had Miles not benched Lee and Bama had to prepare for both QBs again.

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I love Miles, but the biggest mistake he ever made was saying he'd "be honored" to play Bama again. They asked him that question while he was still on the fricking field after the game, and I have no doubt if he had more time to think about the ramifications, he would have answered differently

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Yeah I kinda wish Miles had said something different. It was pretty disrespectful of the reporter to ask that though. I mean you just beat the number 1 team, at their place, in OT, and the first question asked is 'how bout a rematch'?

The BCS Game versus Bama...

What Les & staff had prepared as the game plan for the BCS game versus Bama.

What the alternate plans were if the game plan was not working.

Did they even had alternate plans.

Did he and the staff take a vacation between the SEC Championship game and BCS contest and not bother with preparations........

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I just don't think throwing 2 picks against the number 1 defense in the country is reason to bench a QB that, up to that point, had a fantastic year for a QB that has been completely inconsistent?

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I hear ya. But to me, it wasn't just that he threw 2 picks. It's that he looked REALLY bad doing it. I mean, he threw those 2 picks on SEVEN attempts. He looked scared and out of control the way he had in 08. That was the scariest thing to me. He didn't look the way he did the rest of 2011, which was confident and in command of the O.

Like I said, his best performance IMO was against MSU. He threw an awful pick that really could have cost us that game in the 3rd quarter, but the next drive he came right back and threw a perfect fade to RR for a TD that pretty much sealed the win. It was great.

He didn't respond like that on 11/5. He looked like the old Lee tugging at his shoulder pads and backpedaling as he threw to avoid the rush.

That was what scared me and probably Miles. It just seemed like all the progress he had made came crashing down in the face of that rush.

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I still think it would have been a different game had Miles not benched Lee and Bama had to prepare for both QBs again.

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I agree here. Him not playing in a straight up arse raping against Ole Miss really confused me. But I don't think he should have come against Arky. JJ was playing well, and I never really saw a point when Lee coming in would have helped the team and may have actually hurt our momentum after TM's punt return and our quick score before half.

UGA was weird too, because it looked like we had settled down by half due to our D and ST, but their D was still swarming the way Bama's was when Lee struggled so bad. Then our running game took off early in the 2nd half and we didn't want to ruin that momentum.

I said in the weeks leading up to 1/9 that is was a huge advantage for us that Saban was having fits preparing for both QBs, and I see now Lee not playing after 11/5 kind of took some of that advantage away.

But the fact is, Saban didn't really need to prepare for Lee anyway. His D was already prepped for him to great success for 11/5. They already knew how to stop him and had proven that they could and would.

Still, I do think the fact that Lee didn't go out and sling it around when we were crushing OM early in the game just to give Saban something else to think about is a much more valid complaint than him not playing on 1/9 or against Arky or UGA.

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Yeah I kinda wish Miles had said something different. It was pretty disrespectful of the reporter to ask that though. I mean you just beat the number 1 team, at their place, in OT, and the first question asked is 'how bout a rematch'?

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Oh I completely agree. That's why I said "while he was still on the fricking field."

It really pissed me off at the time, and does even more so now given what ended up happening.

It was just a total bitch move, and I wish Miles would have slapped her down the way he did at halftime of the Tennessee game in 2006.


PLAY OUR ASSES OFF!!!!

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Kind of like how he saw Lee get destroyed by Bama over his entire career, including 2011 when everyone is saying he was so great??

LSU loses to Bama on 11/5 and doesn't play on 1/9 if Lee was our best option against that team. Period.

Yes, Miles' plan, due to having two woefully outmatched QBs, was to keep the game close and not turn the ball over and wait until a big special teams or D play got us in position to win at the end, just like on 11/5 and the SECCG.

It just didn't happen. By the time Bama went up by 15 in the 4th, the Bama D was swarming so bad that Lee may have actually shite his pants while on the sideline. Seriously, they kept showing him, did he look like he wanted anything to do with that D???? Not that I blame him with the way our OL was playing.

The story of 2011 should be how the hell Miles and Krag got that team through that schedule to 13-0 with two very very mediocre QBs at best. It's the best coaching job I've ever seen at LSU if not anywhere.

But now it's 1/9 because they coached that team so far over their heads that they were exposed when faced with The Rematch. They were a victim of their own success.

Had they dropped any game in the season other than Arkansas or SECCG and ended up as an 11-1 Sugar Bowl rep and destroyed Michigan, that would probably be regarded as Miles' crowning achievement.

Instead, he's a goat instead of the GOAT.

And for all the "the O got worse after JJ" crowd, JJ had the best game of any LSU QB in 2011 against Arkansas against the #3 team in the country with everything on the line and against a better D than Lee faced all year.

But again, why let facts get in the way of personal preference

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and that's a wrap!

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The story of 2011 should be how the hell Miles and Krag got that team through that schedule to 13-0 with two very very mediocre QBs at best

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Best post in this entire thread

Biggest mystery? Why so many fans hate on such a good guy. Even went to lengths of spreading rumors of infidelity.

2011 was amazing. Multiple suspensions, blues house burning diwn, miles sister died in a car crash, krags diagnosed with parkinsons. I mean 2011 and 2005 were great seasons considering the tragedy around the program.

The guy is a genius and just wins. Yet 8 years later and people still make fun of how he talks. As if thats their onky gripe ab the guy.

Our fanbase is more of a mystery than miles. They hated saban until he was winning at bama. Be careful, we could have ran off the onky coach that can compete with him.