i thought this was a good article on les

Making more with Les

By Pat Dooley
Sun sports writer

Published: Tuesday, October 7, 2008 at 7:23 a.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, October 7, 2008 at 7:23 a.m.

The two coaches who will send their teams onto the field Saturday night in The Swamp are joined at the hip. Both took over powerful programs in 2005, both have won a national title, both have won the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta. That they won their rings in back-to-back years just adds to the need for comparison.

But the difference is in the perception of Les Miles and Urban Meyer.

Meyer, always serious and focused. Miles, looking at times like a deer in the headlights.

Meyer, even with the loss to Ole Miss knocking the national perception down a couple of pegs, the hot guy in coaching. Miles, what was he thinking?

You make a list of the best coaches in the conference with the best coaches and where does Miles land? I checked a handful of preseason blogs and columns by educated sportswriters (back in the summer when it was the chic thing to do) and Miles was usually ranked fifth or sixth. (Dr. Football had him fifth.)

This is a guy who has the best winning percentage in the conference over the last three-plus years. Miles is 38-6, which is three games better than Meyer and four better than Mark Richt.

But the perception is that he has fallen into that record, that he doesn't have any more of an idea of what is going on than Bobby Bowden does, that he is just plain lucky.

Where does this come from?

Maybe it's that Arizona State game his first year when he looked clueless. Maybe it's the square-brimmed hat that got him the nickname "The Mad Hatter." Maybe it's all of those bizarre calls he made last season. Maybe it's the way a simple question gets a convoluted answer on the SEC conference calls. Maybe it's because he once pronounced Arkansas "Our-Kansas." Maybe it's because of the bizarre news conference he called two hours before the SEC Championship Game last year.

So what is it, goofball or genius?

"He's a little bit quirky," said ESPN GameDay host Chris Fowler. "How he acts around people is amusing. It's very different, very colorful. Les is who he is. But this notion that teams win championships despite a head coach is off base. Les clearly can recruit, he can inspire guys, he can assemble a staff and he can coach.

"I know there are schools in the SEC where the fans are saying, ‘How can we be losing to a team coached by this guy?' Les is unguarded. He lets us in a little more to what he's thinking. It's refreshing."

Fowler also pointed to the fact that LSU under Miles "never lays an egg."

The closest thing would be a 34-14 loss to Georgia in the SEC Championship Game in Miles' first season as the Tigers coach. His other loss that year was in overtime. The two losses last year were in triple overtime. The 23-10 loss in 2006 at UF was closer than the final score. His other loss — 7-3 to Auburn that year.

That's it. That's the list.

"They never get blown out," Fowler said. "That's hard to do."

Hey, I've taken my fair share of shots at Miles because he is different. Instead, I should be a fan because he is different. We like different in this profession. But when a coach does things differently, he puts himself up for judgment.

Goofball or genius?

If it was Steve Spurrier or Richt or Meyer making some of the calls Miles made a year ago and again this season against Auburn, they would be called "aggressive play-callers" or "riverboat gamblers." With Miles, those calls become head-scratchers.

"I'm just trying to make a call that allows my team to win," Miles said. "It doesn't bother me that people say that, but it's a definition I'll accept."

I talked to a writer I have a lot of respect for Monday — SI.com's Stewart Mandel — and he pointed to Miles' record in bowl games. LSU has outscored its bowl opponents 119-41 in three games under Miles and those teams were ranked ninth, 11th and first in the country.

"He knows what he's doing," Mandel said. "There is no question he is unorthodox. His soundbites make good fodder. Everyone wanted to say he won with Nick Saban's players but it's been four years and he still has them playing at a high level."

Unbeaten. No. 4 in the country. Yeah, Les Miles knows what he's doing. It's up to the rest of us to figure it out.