re: Conversation between Scott Long and Mike Detillier

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You see, when people who believe 100% the same as you do that the O needs to improve dramatically, yet believe Miles and his staff are capable of achieving that improvement, we are "complacent" and sailing in denial.

Why?

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Now let me say this. What you posted there, I can almost totally agree with and say we're close to even in our assessment. Except I think Coach Miles has to do more than tweak his offensive staff. I don't have confidence in their ability to perform on the elite level. And I think that Coach Miles does not have a real aptitude for calling offensive plays during a game situation. So I believe that Coach Miles and a real OC hire other than Studwara can turn the LSU offensive problems around. But Coach is going to have to do the heavy lifting and make the changes, like soon or 2013 isn't necessarily going to be pretty.

And Coach Miles is no Bill Belichick. And I can't speak for Patriot fans, as to whether they are in denial or complacent. So I'll leave that little segment alone.

I do think that to accept as fact that

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despite every effort in recruiting, LSU simply did not have QBs able to fully attack SEC defenses

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is giving a little too much benefit of the doubt to the offensive end of LSU football. It is the basic function of coaching to take average or above average players and coach them up to a competitive level. We see this on so many, many teams every year. Not all are born Tim Tebows or Johnny Footballs. Most reasonably successful QBs have been coached well and are given an offense they can operate within their skill set. Not sure that happens at LSU, and I believe that's what we're looking at when we see QBs who aren't performing up to expectations, underutilized tight ends, and wide receivers who can't, don't, or won't receive.
Regarding Mett and a hoped-for revitalized OL...

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Many of us are excited about what that means for next year with a consistent OL lineup and a few more explosive options at WR than the slot type receivers we relied on this year. But it's impossible to have discussions about those hopes without constantly being bombarded by the Miles is stoopid brigade, and that just gets a little old.

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I can understand that. But lumping every concerned poster into your "Miles is stoopid brigade" bundle isn't fair or even particularly helpful to having real discussions about hopes, concerns, and differences of opinion. Sorry you're tired of it, but a lot of us are tired of Coach Miles making promises he doesn't keep about players and schemes, and his trying to force square pegs into round holes on the field and on the coaching staff (see: Malveto, Studwara). A lot of us believe that while LSU has been among the elites during the period of the 2003-2011, LSU could have stood alone as "the" elite. Especially last year 2011. And we are frustrated to see the success a certain Nick Saban has had at Alabama during his tenure there and are tired of being accused of being on his bandwagon because we point to a coach who "gets" it and does the hard work of coaching with attention to excellence, excellent use of his personnel and staff, and attention to every game detail. Not that I want him back at LSU. I do believe that Coach Miles is every bit his equal when he's focused; plus he appears to be a much nicer, friendlier face on the Tiger sidelines than Saban. I just don't know what it takes to keep CLM focused and that is a frustration. Seems like there's always some aspect of the LSU game that's flapping in the wind like a flyaway tarp on a truck bed.

Anyway, I'm not too sure we're all that far apart on our hopes or expectations for LSU and Coach Miles. I do want the guy to succeed beyond any of our wildest dreams. I do think he's a decent guy. But I wish he'd fix things sooner, rather than later, when things are broken. And this offense and our QBs and WRs have been broken to some degree or another for lo unto five years now. Excluding the outlier year 2011, of course.