World Class OC and DC....

Was that a "sakes alive"? I agree with you fwiw

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The jury is still out on cam

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Well, if he can't get the offense to work, then we have a player problem

Dude is good as they come...

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With Miles still at the helm....

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See.. we even have a built-in excuse. We have a reason for any outcome. Good - not-Les. Bad: Les.

Cam has stated that he has been watching and keeping tabs on LSU for 8-10 yrs. He is sharp enough to have seen all the flaws and strengths of the teams along the way. To me he seems humble enough to have also seen his own short-comings from last year in the pros. He seems eager, energized and confident to get the job done. He's allowed Les to save face, but I have to believe he will call the plays and only seldom will Les but in and offer suggestions. Les knows that his offense was not getting the job done last year...too predictable. If Cam gets the job done, Les will not override he often. If we don't loose anymore key players, I think that LSU fans will be happy. We have the right material to run Cam's game plan...and the players like what they see. I take that as a good sigh. JMHO, I'll be somewhat disappointed if they don't average close to 40pts. a game.

pro coaches don't always work out in college and vice versa. the issue with cam is he's not a long term hire. I'd imagine with a couple good years, he'll jump back to the nfl. There aren't many ststic coordinators as good as Chavis out there. Obviously you take a couple years of good offense even if the guy leaves. I guess the problem is more with Les than with Cam. You have to worry about another bad hire to replace a good coordinator, like we've seen on both sides of the ball.

I wouldn't make too many assumptions about Cam just yet. He seems like a family guy that might just adjust well to Baton Rouge and the approach that Les has to his coaches. Thinking positive seems like the only sensible approach at this time of year. Personally, I like all the changes I've seen so far. Les is growing wiser along the just like Shorty did...fans often have short memories in certain regards to the past and their coaches.

In the NFL Perception is Reality (extensive offensive coordinator study)

At the end of the last football season I did a comprehensive study of NFL offensive coordinators (or head coaches with offensive backgrounds) with at least five years of NFL experience in that postion. I've always been interested in the role that perception plays in our evaluation of players and coaches, and how such perceptions often overshadow objective data. To conduct the study, I used www.profootballreference.com as my primary resource.

I certainly wasn't suprised to see New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton leading the pack but there were some suprises.

To conduct the study, I looked at the following 15 primarly offensive catagories: Team W/L %, takeaway/givaway ratio, yards, points, offensive giveaways, rush. att., rush yds., rush TDs, rush Y/A, fewest fumbles, pass att., pass yds., pass TDs, fewest INTs, and net yards per pass attempt.

www.profootballreference.com provides percentile ranks against other teams in all of these categories. I then took the average percentage that a coach achieved in each category. I also looked at what coaches achieved the most top 10 ranks in each category among the 36 coaches evaluated in the study.

The biggest limitation in the study as that the primary source's percentiles reflect the entire career of a coach in that role. Comparing Mike Shanahan's 26 years vs. Joe Philbin's six years (most of which weren't even as a play caller) is the weakest point of the evaluation. However, I still found it to be worthwhile as only eight of the 35 coaches had more than 13 years of NFL experience in the HC or OC role.

Not surprisingly, coaches such as Sean Payton, Josh McDaniels, and Mike McCarthy appeared in the top 10. There were, however, a few surprises. Perception didn't always match reality.

Payton, who has been either an offensive coordinator or head coach for nine seasons, averaged 68 percent in the 15 categories evaluated. During those nine seasons, his offenses have been in the 88th percentile in yards and 71st percentile in points. The only categories that were below the 50th percentile were rushing yards (49) and rushing attempts (46). He was among the top 10 in 10 of the 15 different offensive categories.

Current Washington Redskins head coach Mike Shanahan and Miami Dolphins head coach Joe Philbin led the list in most top 10 ranks with 12 categories. Although Shanahan no longer calls plays, for this study I counted head coaches with offensive backgrounds or named offensive coordinators, even if they didn't call offensive plays. Philbin, who was the offensive coordinator by title as an assistant coach in Green Bay, didn't call plays as that job was held by Mike McCarthy.

The list's top 10 is as follows:

Name (Yrs. as OC or HC) - avg. % rank of 15 categories (top 10 ranks)
1. Sean Payton (9 years) - 68.0 (10)
2. Gary Kubiak (18 years) - 67.9 (11)
3. Joe Philbin (6 years) - 67.6 (12)
4. Mike Shanahan (26 years) - 66.3 (12)
5. Josh McDaniels (7 years) - 66.0 (10)
6. Rick Dennison (6 years) - 65.0 (10)
7. Tom Coughlin (17 years) - 63.3 (9)
8. Cam Cameron (11 years) - 63.0 (11)
9. Mike McCarthy (13 years) - 61.9 (10)
10. Jason Garrett (6 years) - 61.3 (7)

Again, while many of the names aren't surprises, Jason Garrett just relinquished his play calling duties as the head coach of the Cowboys. Former Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Cam Cameron is now the offensive coordinator at LSU, after being fired toward the end of the Ravens regular season and prior to Baltimore's Super Bowl run.

Not surprisingly, Andy Reid fared well and fell just outside of the top 10 in 12th position. Other coaches with very strong offensive reputations didn't fare nearly as well. Norv Turner, the highly regarded offensive coordintor for the Cleveland Browns was 18th on the list. Jon Gruden, who isn't still coaching but was a possible head coaching candidate when the study was done so I included him, was 20th as he recorded a 54.6 average and was among the top 10 in only one offensive category (fewest INTs thrown). Mike Martz, who produced three of the highest-rated NFL offenses in history, was 28th in the study as most of his other seasons were very mediocre. His averages were hurt by dreadful percentages in turnover categories such as offensive giveaways (18th percentile), although he only had three top 10 categories as well.

Interestingly, several of last year's new head coaches didn't fare well at all in the study as new Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians was 25th and Cleveland's Rob Chudzinski was 30th. Another coach with a very good reputation who fared poorly was Ken Whisenhunt (47.8 average and 0 top 10s).

11-20 on the list, in order: Marty Morningweg, Reid, Mike Mularkey, Al Saunders, Mike Tice, Dirk Koetter, Brad Childress, Turner, Mike Sherman, and Gruden.

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MHO, I'll be somewhat disappointed if they don't average close to 40pts. a game.

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prepare for disappointment. No way we even approach that number.

I like what I'm hearing from the players...they seem to be happy about the changes and speak to their ability to grasp the system...I think his plan fits the personnel that LSU currently has...no major injuries is key as usual...lol