re: I really don't understand some of our fans. I need some answers.

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We managed to get one in 2007 though, his name is Jarrett Lee.

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This is a good point. People forget that Lee was fairly heavily recruited and, if RP hadn't gotten the boot, we'd all be excited to see what he could do in his first year as a starting QB this fall.

I'd argue that Les's real mistake in this whole mess was giving too many first team snaps to Andrew Hatch instead of Lee. If Lee had been adequately prepared, things might have gone differently.

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So did Alabama in 2009.

Who knew a backup QB that started all of two games in his entire career was the only thing holding together one of the nation's strongest programs and standing between that and eternal mediocrity?

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So you really don't give a shite what you type as long as the words support your argument.

Thanks for letting me know.

I'll ignore your myopia from now on.

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Comparing McElroy's situation to Jefferson's is really not fair to Jefferson.

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True. McElroy had the benefit of a coaching staff.

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A first year starter, who happened to be a redshirt junior and who was supported by the best defense in the country.

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Exactly. When a team with a GOOD coach has to make do with a first year starter, they manage to make up for that in other ways and still have a great season. When Les Miles has to go with a pseudo first year starter, the whole god damned thing falls apart. It is, quite simply, the difference between a coach who is EARNING his $4 million a year and one who isn't.

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When a team with a GOOD coach

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I don't think Nick Saban is a "good" coach. I think he's a GREAT coach, without a doubt one of the two best coaches left in college football.

I've never disputed that Nick Saban and Urban Meyer are better coaches than Les Miles. But neither Saban, nor Meyer, nor Bob Stoops are going to walk through the door and beg to be allowed to coach LSU. And I think Les is a better coach than any of our other realistic options.

Everyone agrees that Les made mistakes and that this football team has faults. I think where we depart is that some people believe that these faults are somehow unfixable, and that Miles is incapable of learning from his mistakes. I don't believe either statement is true.

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I've never disputed that Nick Saban and Urban Meyer are better coaches than Les Miles.

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Then we shouldn't be paying him what they're making.

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neither Saban, nor Meyer, nor Bob Stoops are going to walk through the door and beg to be allowed to coach LSU. And I think Les is a better coach than any of our other realistic options.

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For $4 million a year, I guarantee you there's someone better than Les Miles who would come here. It just takes a competent administration to identify him and get him here. We're not getting our money's worth with Miles, and that should end the discussion regarding his fate.

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where we depart is that some people believe that these faults are somehow unfixable, and that Miles is incapable of learning from his mistakes. I don't believe either statement is true.

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One of my favorite bartenders has a sign behind the bar that quotes one of her favorite sayings....YOU CAN'T FIX STUPID. Miles can't "learn" to be smart enough not to let 20 seconds run off the clock in the Ole Miss game. It's just a mental thing. His mind isn't capable of keeping up with everything that's going on in the heat of the moment. He's proven that over and over again throughout his career. Clock management is mostly about situational awareness, which requires intelligence, and he just doesn't have it. He can't learn to be smarter.

Nuts You made my point less than 1/3 and none in the last 7 years (defenses are getting complex).

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dont forget that after fla won a nc in 06, in tim tebow's first year as a starter, 9 and 4, lost a bowl game to michagin.

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And that was because Tebow was only a first-year sophomore starter? He was the problem for them that year? Are you insane? Florida lost 4 games that year because Meyer, still in only his 3rd year and without having had time to recruit a full team, had a young, thin defense. First year starter, true sophomore, quarterback Tim Tebow was the only reason they won as many as they did. An inexperienced QB was not the problem for Florida in 2007. And even if it was, it was quickly solved in one year, not three.

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MOST of the SEC champions since expansion have had either a freshman or sophomore or a first-year starter starting at QB.

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Way to use the disjunctive instead of the conjuctive. How about this: How many SEC champions had a QB who was an underclassman AND was a first year starter, as JJ was?

THAT is the valid comparison. Not a junior who has been in the system for three years and now is starting for the first time. JJ had BOTH youth and inexperience working against him. McElroy is not really comparable given the time he had in the system.