re: Per Les Miles interview..Mett v. JJ in Natty champ

I’ll try and summarize this thread (and bring it to a graceful landing):

a) Tiger fans do not have 1/9/12 amnesia. All it takes is a small spark and up in flames we go. Whether warranted or not I don’t think Tiger fans will be very forgiving of Les should there be a boneheaded blunder in ’12.

b) Concerning the interview quote from the SEC Media Days I think Les spoke rather clumsily. I don’t think he meant to convey that Mett was in line to play on 1/9 had there not been some mystery injury. IMO, he meant to say that had Mett not been injured earlier in the season which limited his reps throughout the course of the season, Mett was maturing well enough that he could have been ready to play even on the big stage. It was meant to be a compliment directed toward Mett’s maturity, not to revisit the QB play/decision on 1/9.

Some comments for perspective:
- Even the best of coaches have skeletons in their closets. In a game for the NC, Bryant got completely annihilated by Nebraska after the ’71 season and surrendered two blocked punts vs Auburn in the waning moments of the game in ’72 to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Spurrier not only got plastered by Nebraska in the ’95 season CG, he also blew a 4 TD lead vs FSU in ONE (the 4th) quarter in ’94 at Choke Campbell Stadium. We all know of Saban’s. It happens.
- Coaches are and will be assessed by not only what they actually accomplish (Les best record in LSU history) but also on what they could have (within reason) accomplished.
- Les is doing a great job (and in case you haven’t noticed the staff is knocking it out of the park on recruiting), but he really needs to have learned some lessons from the ’11 season.

Apologies for being long-winded.