I'm excluding the current staff in hopes that this won't turn into yet another debate on Miles, but here are a few LSU football coaching blunders over the years that really stand out in my mind as head-scratchers (in each case, I'm listing the head coach regardless of whether someone else on the staff might have actually made the bad decision)...

1987 vs. Ohio State (Archer): We're tied 13-13 in the final minute of the game, and we have the ball inside the Ohio State 10-yard line. With super-reliable David Browndyke ready to kick a game-winning chip-shot FG, this one looks over...until LSU inexplicably calls a pass play to the end zone. Ohio State intercepts and returns it to about midfield, and we actually have to block a long FG attempt on the final play of the game to preserve the tie. When asked in the postgame interview why he didn't just run the ball on that last series inside the 10 instead of throwing to the end zone, Archer incoherently explained that he did not want to go for the tie. Huh?

1994(?) vs. Texas A&M(?) (Hallman): Having decided before the game that we wanted to be on defense to start the game, we win the toss, but instead of deferring we exercise our option...to kick off. A&M then has the option in the second half and they choose to receive, so we kick off to start both halves.

1988 vs. Ohio State (Archer): Leading by 6 with about 1:45 to go, we have the ball at about our own 30-yard line. Ohio State has two timeouts left. After two running plays for no gain, each followed by a Buckeye timeout, we face third and 10 with still about 1:30 to go, but OSU is out of timeouts. We call a pass play, and Hodson gets pressure and throws the ball away to avoid a sack, stopping the clock and saving Ohio State about 30-40 seconds. Not a good play call, nor a good decision by the QB to throw it away (he should have been instructed during the timeout to take the sack if the receiver wasn't open), but at least, we figure, we saved the 8 or so yards of field position for our punter to hopefully pin them in their own territory. But no...we make the field position irrelevant by taking an intentional safety instead of punting on fourth down, so we got zero benefit out of avoiding the sack. All we did was just give them a free timeout. With the benefit of the extra time, Ohio State drives for the winning TD, scoring with about 10 seconds left.

1993 vs. Arkansas (Hallman): At 5-5 on the season, we need to beat the Razorbacks in the final game of the season to secure our first winning season in five years and go to a bowl game. A tie is just as bad as a loss, though, because at 5-5-1, we will not be bowl eligible. Down 35-17 in the fourth quarter, we score a TD to make it 35-23. Instead of going for two points, which would allow us the possibility of winning with a FG and another TD and 2-point conversion, we kick the PAT to make it 35-24. Now, we need two TDs to win (which would have been the case if we'd gone for 2 and not made it), since all we can do is tie with a FG and TD with 2 point conversion. It ended up not mattering because we didn't score again anyway (and Arkie did to win it 42-24), but Hallman exposed his stupidity in the postgame interview. Commenting on the situation when it was 35-24, he said we were ready to score again and go for 2 points. At that point, the 2 points would have done no good, since we could only tie with a FG. He obviously didn't realize the math when we scored to make it 35-23, and still didn't understand it when it was 35-24 and we were hoping to score again.

1997 vs. Auburn (DiNardo): Herb Tyler's worst game as a QB. His two early interceptions handed Auburn a 14-0 lead in the first quarter. Fortunately, Cecil Collins and Rondell Mealey had monster games, rushing for a combined 380 yards and running all over the Auburn defense. Having recovered from our early deficit, we took a 28-24 lead on a spectacular TD run by Collins, then made a stop and got the ball back about midway through the 4th quarter. Everyone in the stadium knew what was coming. The Diesel and Mealey would tear off chunks of yardage, eat up the clock and put this one away. Just inside Auburn territory, we faced third-and-2. The options were a Collins run (27 carries, 237 yards to that point), a Mealey run (144 yards on about 15 carries to that point) or a Tyler pass (5 for about 20 for 115 yards with two interceptions to that point). So, naturally, we chose the Tyler pass. It was incomplete, then we punted (another bad decision, IMO), and Auburn drove for the winning TD, scoring with 30 seconds left.

And of course...

1994 vs. Auburn (Hallman): With a two-touchdown lead in the fourth quarter, Auburn's offense struggling to gain a yard, let alone a first down, against our defense, we call a Jamie Howard pass on third down. Auburn intercepts and returns it for a TD, pulling within one touchdown. On the next series (after another 3-and-out forced by our defense), we do the same thing, and so do they. Now it's tied. On the next series, we drive for a FG to regain the lead by three. On the next series (after having forced yet another 3-and-out for Auburn), now with under two minutes to go and Auburn out of timeouts, we again face a third down...we call another pass by Jamie Howard. It's intercepted, and Auburn returns it for the game-winning touchdown. Howard tacks on two more interceptions for good measure in the desperation drive that follows (Auburn fumbles the first one back to us on the return to give him another chance).

I'm sure there were many more, but those were a few that stood out to me over the years.