re: How did Les always do so well in opening games?

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Les gets crapped on but he was a very good coach until he did not change with the times. Saban saw what was happening in the game and changed. Miles failed and became a relic.

But, He had the team prepared and mentally and physically tough.

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This. From 2005-2011 Les lived in a conference with Meyer, Saban, Tuberville, Richt, Spurrier, Nutt/Petrino and rarely had a bad game plan to secure victory.

But the sport become so heavily dependent on having that guy at QB and Les was simply incapable of recruiting and/or developing that guy. And eventually there was one team in Alabama that surpassed LSU in overall talent, especially along the line of scrimmage.

And for better or worse LSU under Les didn’t need a few weeks to discover its identity. Those teams walked off the bus week 1 knowing who they were.

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Les Miles was a good coach.

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He really was. Glad we had him… many great memories from the 2007 season…

especially when he told off reporters about him going to Michigan, proceeded to win SEC championship vs Tennessee with a backup QB.

A bunch of wild stuff after that happened as most of us know including West Virginia who was in line to go to National Championship losing to Pittsburgh bc LeSean McCoy ran all over them…

It sent LSU to the NC where we ended up beating Ohio State. What a great season!

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As flawed as he was, his teams always came ready to play week one minus 2016 when he was already a dead man walking. How do you think he did it?

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Did you see the intensity and sheer violence of his practices? We were not going to be physically outmatched unless you brought Bama in who could match us physically.

Xs and Os...not defending the man. Strategy....not defending him....but you better strap it up against a Miles team in his prime. That gets you a long way in games where neither team is executing that well.

Talent
Before NIL


Talent

Les was a good coach, and he understood the cards he was dealt (even towards the end )

He made the game as simple as possible, because he learned from Bo Schembechler at Michigan.
He knew if you had the better talent, the stronger and faster guys, you can push the other team around. Gimmick offenses existed to give lesser teams a chance, and LSU didn't need to run one. It could line up and smash you in the mouth at the line of scrimmage, and run 230 lb backs on toss dives off right tackle all game. And if the opponent didn't have the men to stand up to that, it would get you 4 yds in the first quarter, 5 yds in the second, and 7 yds a carry by the end. And in order to stop it, the opponent would have to stack the box, so play action or a good dual threat would destroy that defense.

His defenses adapted to the game, so while we loved to mock Chavis, it's no coincidence LSU was the only team to shut Johnny Football down, and they did so the same way they shut Georgia Tech's triple option down, or Oregon's fast-paced HUNH read-options. D Line power to collapse the line of scrimmage and play in the backfield, blazing speed at linebacker to eliminate any outside run or misdirection, skilled secondary that stayed with opposing receivers.

People claimed the game got away from Les, but Bama under Saban was the only team that could consistently beat LSU, and Les was looking for a dual threat QB all the way back to 2007. He had Perilloux, but that blew up. Tried to make Jefferson, but he wasn't really the right guy to do that. Nor was Shepard, Johnson, or Harris.
But you could see what he wanted- Clemson had Deshaun Watson, and that's the only team that could fight Bama head-on and win. And I firmly believe LSU had better talent than Clemson across the board, other than that QB spot.

You give Les a guy like Daniels, and he wins a couple more titles. Definitely takes 2011, probably another season too, even with Saban out there. Watching the portal appear after he left, that probably kills Les. He could have cherry-picked his QBs for multiple runs.

Kelly currently doesn't have NEAR the talent Miles had on the team. You can see that in the roster- we're playing freshmen, sophomores, and transfers. We're missing 2 classes out there. In another couple years, we'll have them, and be back to playing at the highest level again. You need those homegrown upperclassmen who understand the system, to be the base of the program.

Hopefully that's why Nuss is sticking around; understanding that Daniels is the bridge and HE will be the guy running a full squad.

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Les gets crapped on but he was a very good coach until he did not change with the times.

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I feel like he became ultra-conservative passing the ball after Jarrett Lee's freshman year. It wasn't until he trusted Zach Mettenberger to open the playbook for a short time.

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Les gets crapped on but he was a very good coach

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He was. He was never a great coach but he was close to being a great recruiter and still a very good coach. He did see to have in-game lapses but not nearly as many as the rantards would have you believe.

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he did not change with the times.

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That kind of moved him from the very good to the good level. His style will always win you more games than it loses but it won't get you to the promised land if you have to play multiple modern high-end offenses.