re: Are we incapable of admitting that process matters?

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That was the proper call.

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was it? watch every game. notice how many times a second runs off the clock on an incomplete pass and how many times they review it and put a second or two back on the clock.

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That was the proper call.


was it? watch every game. notice how many times a second runs off the clock on an incomplete pass and how many times they review it and put a second or two back on the clock.

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Then every other time, the refs are doing it wrong. It happened in 2007 AU, where they let the clock run down a few seconds. I understand what you're saying.

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That's my entire point! Sometimes the ball will just not bounce your way. So why compound that with extra stupidity?

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Bingo.

One can not account for ridiculous plays and bounces. Like say your OL standing around with his thumb up his arse while people count to four mississippi and allowing the same DL who tackled to qb to recover the football. There are times when things happen that cannot be coached for. That performances happen by a player that cannot be gameplanned.

the problem is that at times, Miles's on-field handling of the games IS the problem

It's not player mistakes, or someone making a bad play. Or the ball taking a bad bounce. I'm actually fine with his 4th and goal calls. Those take guts. They're not the problem.

it's that he's doing or not doing something completely inexplicable to what should be common, routine, football 101 type situations that everyone should know back and forth.

Situations like um, maybe being in the prevent defense with :06 in the first half and a big strong armed qb in the game come to mind.

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Situations like um, maybe being in the prevent defense with :06 in the first half and a big strong armed qb in the game come to mind.

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Right. There simply is no excuse. NONE.

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But they rolled in the other games in a way that LSU has not been able to do.

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Oh, LSU did it - in 2003.

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But when the players and opponents change, yet the overall sloppy play continues every year, I have to look to the coach.

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Perhaps.

Personally, I think a lot of it has to do with Gary Crowton, who, from my estimation, hasn't had a good year yet at LSU, regardless of what people want to say about '07. We were still routinely penalized and digging ourselves out of holes as an offense that season.

I have doubts about Les too. I don't like that we've failed to lose fewer than 2 games in any single season since he's arrived. I would like to see us be more consistently dominant on the field.

I also think Les is still a young coach (not age, but experience). Oklahoma State was his first head coaching gig and he held it for 4 years before being hired by LSU. He started coaching in 1980 as a GA and as an OL coach in 1982. Saban's career started 10 years earlier, despite the fact that he's only 2 years older.

Who knows what will happen. A lot of fans have made up their mind that Les isn't a good coach. That's fine. I think he's frequently unfairly criticized for a lot of things. I like the guy, I think he's a solid coach. He's probably not elite, but when you start talking elite, you are talking about 3, maybe 5 guys... the next year or two should decide his fate. If he elects to keep Crowton the team will likely sink into mediocrity. If he elects to can him and makes a poor hire, the same. If he makes a good hire, there's an opportunity that we will rebound and become one of the top tier teams in the SEC over the next 4-5 years.

At this point his resume just isn't poor enough to deserve firing.

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the problem is that at times, Miles's on-field handling of the games IS the problem

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This!!!

I keep hearing about how Miles will fix the problems, but how can he fix himself?

There is just no excuse for trying to call a timeout after the clock is already stopped. Nor, is there any excuse for calling a timeout after you have already let 8 to 10 seconds run off. This is not a one-off problem. This kind of crap happens routinely. How can he not know better than this? It's absolutely baffling to me. He has to know better than this, doesn't he? So how come it keeps happening?

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This is not a one-off problem. This kind of crap happens routinely.

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the examples you've given have happened about 5 times in 6 years...

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the examples you've given have happened about 5 times in 6 years...

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Perhaps, but we are not talking astrophysics, here. It's basic football 101. Any idiot knows better. Why doesn't Miles?

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People point to the "luck" of the Tennessee game and yes, LSU was fortunate that Tennessee had 13 men on the field, no doubt. But we also crushed that team in yardage. Had the players not been careless with the football (notably, a needless DeAngelo Peterson fumble), the game wouldn't have been in doubt.

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We dominated Florida handily as well. Is it the coaches' fault that Patrick Peterson fumbled his only punt of the year, giving them the ball in the redzone? Or that we yielded our lone special teams return TD of the year?

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DP's fumble in the Tennessee game (a 3 yard gain on 3rd and 5) is he biggest TO you can think of?

And PP's fumble was the only shortcoming in the Florida game?


C'mon, you can think of other problems in those games can't you?

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Lonnie4LSU
Are we incapable of admitting that process matters?

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Wouldn't you say that consistantly putting your team in a position to win in the last minutes of a game is pretty good coaching?



Most reasonable, non-bias folks would say when you win at almost an 80% rate while playing in the SEC for a 6 year period, your coaching has to be pretty good.

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Only folks who don't happen to notice that the 20% of your losses consistently come from the same teams in the SEC. Losing consistently to those same teams makes your school second-tier, not elite.