Started By
Message
locked post

Interesting parallel between Les & Steve Spurrier...

Posted on 10/10/12 at 8:44 am
Posted by GFunk
Denham Springs
Member since Feb 2011
14966 posts
Posted on 10/10/12 at 8:44 am
Steve had the want like Saban did after awhile at UF. He'd shredded the SEC through the early 90's all the way to the early part of the Saban Era at LSU. He left for NFL pastures and found his teeth kicked down his throat.

He came back to take over for Sweeth Louth Holthz at South Carolina.

Since his return, he's morphed from a guy who wanted to run Fun 'N Gun into a shotgun spread based attack that's keyed by a power run game, a QB who runs the ball significantly-and well I might add. Along with a defense centered around great play from its DL.

Then, we have Les, whose spurned the siren song of home calling him back to Michigan for LSU twice if you believe the papers. When he first arrived, Jimbo ran a balanced attack and had recruited amazing, NFL caliber talent. Our offenses keyed a team that-for the first time in the history of modern LSU Football-beat Alabama, Auburn & Florida in the same season.

In 2007, Jimbo left and Crowton came in-running things his way-and we saw heights heretofore unseen by an LSU Offense in many respects, winning a National Title.

In 2008, we began a slow decline after pinning our hopes to RP. In 2009, what was hoped to be a progression seemed to perhaps evidence a plateau-if not a full out regression-in our QB talent that Miles was charged with recruiting without Jimbo for the first time.

In 2010, a problem in the defense began to become a strength, and keyed by a talented tailback, we returned to winning ways, but with a simple shell of our former offensive selves.

In 2011, we simply out-talented teams and saw a defense that was littered with lottery picks, All-Americans, and Heisman Trophy Finalists, game-changers aplenty. The offense ran the ball and feasted on teams in flux like UF & AU, and flat-out-outmanned teams from other conferences like Oregon & UWV.

This year, Les doesn't see fit to make a change. We enter into the heart of the SEC Darkness with a man whose offenses show zero signs of life or improvement. Whose receivers run basic routes which lack any sophistication or seeming conceptual basis.

We see a coach who although he had the same siren songs as Spurrier and decided not to listen, and has likewise won a national title, simply refuses to change his stripes based on the inevitable, inescapable truth:

His philosophy is stale, and he's begun to hold our program back...and has been doing so for much of his tenure in TigerTown.

Just interesting to see one of the most arrogant, self-absorbed, snarky coaches in the game at this level has changed with the times after bringing the modern passing offense to bigtime college football in a major way.

...and then seeing our coach still trying to ram a square peg into a round hole.
Posted by jakedel12
Dallas, Texas
Member since Nov 2006
1449 posts
Posted on 10/10/12 at 8:56 am to
ok, what coach do want in place of Les?

Just a simple question
Posted by Beltway Bengal
Potomac, Maryland
Member since Feb 2004
519 posts
Posted on 10/10/12 at 8:57 am to
I can't believe we are actually seeing fans pine for the "good ole days" of Gary Crowton.

I saw it his offensive system in two places and don't want to see it again.

Would I like to see the LSU offense more polished and efficient? Absolutely, but don't tell me Crowton had the answers.

Btw, the jury is still very much out on Jimbo as well.
This post was edited on 10/10/12 at 8:59 am
Posted by nicholastiger
Member since Jan 2004
42337 posts
Posted on 10/10/12 at 9:02 am to
And Oregon/West Va were almost identical teams from last year and will get dominated once they see a real defense. What has Oregon done against Auburn and LSU the last two years. West Va wasn't all that against LSU two years in a row.
Posted by Papa Tigah
TIGER ISLAND, LA
Member since Sep 2007
18378 posts
Posted on 10/10/12 at 9:07 am to
quote:

and then seeing our coach still trying to ram a square peg into a round hole.
Posted by cajunjj
Madison, AL
Member since May 2008
7427 posts
Posted on 10/10/12 at 9:11 am to
It doesn't matter if we had Payton Manning at QB our OF sucks because we are so predictable. Any Pop Warner coach could defend Lsu if they had the material. Lsu on First & second down, run off left tackle with no blocking for 3 yards. On 3 down & 7 Mett throws for 5 yards & on forth down we punt. Who ever calls plays for the offense should be looked over closely after this year. We really need an OF coach!!! I liked Les better when he was the mad hatter now I think he is just MAD!
Posted by JaxTigah
Jackson, MS
Member since Dec 2009
1499 posts
Posted on 10/10/12 at 9:14 am to
I am still trying to find the parallel.
Posted by Kunka
Member since Dec 2010
394 posts
Posted on 10/10/12 at 9:15 am to
Great post and your exactly SPOT ON in your remarks!!! LSU has been winning games on pure talent for sometime now relative to their offensive production. Their is no scheme going on at all on the offensive side of the ball it's just ground and pound Big Ten football 1970's style. The difference between LSU on offense and teams like Florida, Alabama for example are that those programs use constant motion, formation shifts, play action, screens, misdirection, etc to run their run heavy offense's. LSU on the other hand does the exact opposite. Same formations with 1 TE and 1 Fullback or 2 TE's and the same run plays of Power & Iso being run over, and over, and over, and over, and over again regardless if there's 8 or even 9 men in the box.
Posted by GFunk
Denham Springs
Member since Feb 2011
14966 posts
Posted on 10/10/12 at 9:16 am to
quote:

JaxTigah
quote:

I am still trying to find the parallel.


One coach experienced the highest of highs, and then changed his course and his philosophy, and has returned to the summit.

One coach expeirenced the highest of highs and hasn't changed his course and philosophy, and seems to be captain of deck-chair rearrangement on the SS Titanic.
Posted by Lonnie Utah
Utah!
Member since Jul 2012
23852 posts
Posted on 10/10/12 at 9:18 am to
As a Gamecock fan, I'll say that no matter what you guys think, Les Miles is one of the Top 5 coaches in the nation. Any team would love to have him. Nothing but respect for the mad hatter.

I was talking to my LSU buddy here in the office yesterday and he mentioned how poorly LSU had played on offense this year. In jest, because I'm sarcastic by nature, I told him you guys should hire Petrino as your OC. We both laffed, and then after we thought about it for a second, realized that would be a brilliant idea...
Posted by mach316
Jonesboro, AR
Member since Jul 2012
4774 posts
Posted on 10/10/12 at 9:20 am to
Good read. I'm in..
Posted by Fat Bastard
coach, investor, gambler
Member since Mar 2009
72460 posts
Posted on 10/10/12 at 9:23 am to
quote:

Beltway Benga


riiiiiiiiiiiiiight



crowton and Jimbo sucked, i mean they never had any record breaking Offenses

and yes jimbo was a real Qb developer.

see rohan, Mauck, JR, and Flynn.
Posted by Beltway Bengal
Potomac, Maryland
Member since Feb 2004
519 posts
Posted on 10/10/12 at 9:34 am to
First Les held Jimbo back, then Bobby Bowden held him back, and now he's running his own show and scoring 16 points on NC St.

Would I take Jimbo back as Offensive Coordinator if it were my decision to make? Certainly. Is he infallible and would that guarantee the success we all want? I'm not so sure.

Off to the Nats game shortly, so you all can ridicule me as much as you want.
Posted by guttata
prairieville
Member since Feb 2006
22504 posts
Posted on 10/10/12 at 9:38 am to
Sounds like Les is smartest of them all. He wasn't dumb enough to let his ego tell himself to leave for another job
Posted by GFunk
Denham Springs
Member since Feb 2011
14966 posts
Posted on 10/10/12 at 9:40 am to
quote:

Beltway Bengal
quote:

First Les held Jimbo back, then Bobby Bowden held him back, and now he's running his own show and scoring 16 points on NC St.


One game sample = COMPLETE VALIDATION OF YOUR POINT.

(not)

quote:

Would I take Jimbo back as Offensive Coordinator if it were my decision to make? Certainly. Is he infallible and would that guarantee the success we all want? I'm not so sure.


Nobody is infallible. Was that the point of any discussion in this thread?

...

....

.....

I didn't think so either.

quote:

Off to the Nats game shortly, so you all can ridicule me as much as you want.


Why is this about ridicule? You seem to be clutching your opinions so tightly that you're making up arguments and attributing them to people who aren't even actually arguing with you in an effort to get self-righteously defensive.

In other words: Settle Down & Lighten Up, Francis.
This post was edited on 10/10/12 at 9:41 am
Posted by nicholastiger
Member since Jan 2004
42337 posts
Posted on 10/10/12 at 9:40 am to
LSU could have had Spurrier had Saban not waited till Christmas to bolt for the Dolphins
Posted by BEAUXREGARD
4th bar stool from the right
Member since Jul 2005
13964 posts
Posted on 10/10/12 at 9:41 am to
I don't think anyone is going to confuse us with teams that run creative offenses. Then again, Alabama isn't all that creative either. They execute. To this point in the year, we haven't. But, IMO, a lot of that has to do with injuries and turnovers. Not sure how much of that can be blamed on coaches. Our defense gives us a chance to win every week. If we execute just a little on offense, we're going to be hard to beat. Will that happen? Don't know. And the comparison to Spurrier is irrelevant. Spurrier didn't have the talent at SC to run the offense he knew. He adapted to the talent he had and has continued to run with it. Not to mention that SEC defenses had already started to catch up with those offenses before he left.
Posted by LSUnKaty
Katy, TX
Member since Dec 2008
4340 posts
Posted on 10/10/12 at 9:45 am to
quote:

One game sample = COMPLETE VALIDATION OF YOUR POINT.

(not)

Les has last almost 2 years. What does that say about your point?

Oh, and you do realize that USCe now has a team built more like Miles' design at LSU - Don't you?
Posted by mach316
Jonesboro, AR
Member since Jul 2012
4774 posts
Posted on 10/10/12 at 9:46 am to
Adapted...........I like that word
Posted by Msgulfcoasttiger
Member since Oct 2010
128 posts
Posted on 10/10/12 at 9:46 am to
I thought this post was going to comment on the fact that Spurrier was a wiz at offense, but knew he had to bring in Bob Stoops to run the defense at Florida. Only after he opened the purse to pay Stoops to come did Florida win the National Championship.. Miles isn't a wiz at either, but he should know he can't continue with the status quo. He needs to hire a quality OC and stay out of the way.
first pageprev pagePage 1 of 2Next pagelast page

Back to top
logoFollow TigerDroppings for LSU Football News
Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to get the latest updates on LSU Football and Recruiting.

FacebookTwitterInstagram