re: LSU: most fb wins in the greatest ever conference-decade ever

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I'm pretty sure we all agree with the following three facts:
1. The SEC from 2005 to 2014 is the most dominant a conference has been over an entire decade.
2. LSU's 54 SEC regular season and SEC championship game wins from 2005 to today are more than Florida's 53, Georgia's 50, Alabama's 46, Auburn's 46, South Carolina's 44, Arkansas' 32, Tennessee's 28, Mississippi State's 26, Vanderbilt's 22, Ole Miss' 21, Kentucky's 20, Texas A&M's 12, Missouri's 10, and Sewanee's 0.
3. Les Miles has been the coach at LSU since the beginning of the 2005 season.

One of my favorite things about being an LSU alumnus is that I'm good at math, and when I place in front of me comprehensive statistics such as the ones listed above, I see nothing but sunshine. It is a very positive feeling.

How 'bout we enjoy a Tiger win Saturday so Florida doesn't catch up?

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I've been reading your posts, and they are very positive, that is a good thing. I am just curious, this is not an attack question. Do you believe in objectivity? Do you think Les Miles is a good game day Coach? Of course every coach has flaws, I get this. You seem to be under the impression that any criticism of the Coach is a bad thing.

The man makes millions, criticism and unhappy fans sends a message to coaches, don't think they don't see it, without fans you have nothing. The coach needs to be held accountable just like anyone else.

Yes bashing,insulting and hate spewing toward coaches and especially players is insane.

It seems you are oblivious to anything negative about Coach Miles. Message boards are for discussing,venting, constructive criticism, and entertainment.

I really think you are trolling any attempt at objectivity myself, it doesn't bother me, carry on.

Oh look, another thread about what we did in the past.

Talent can only take you so far.

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The les miles religious fanatics can't comprehend this. Like the joe pa worshipers at penn state, the man is the program to them.

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Truer words have never been spoken.

They actually love Les Miles more than they love LSU. Fact.

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We also play more games than in previous decades and with rules and styles of play that make the modern era in football the highest in offensive production by far. Couple that with one of the most experienced and talented group of players on offense you could ever hope to have, you have to recognize that last year we were not as good as we could have been on offense.

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This, right here, is the crux of nearly every criticism of the Les Miles Era at LSU. No one can honestly argue that the numbers suggest anything other than the greatest run of any point in the history of the program. That's a straight up fact. What we hear is, is that it should have been better. It was not as good as, as you said, "it could have been."

Was it the best ever? Sure...but it could have been EVEN better.

I don't think anyone is arguing about that. Hell...even if LSU had gone undefeated since the Fall of 2005, one could argue (and I'm sure we'd have our fair share) that even then it would not have been without the ability to have been better. Undoubtedly we'd have not scored on an offensive series or two. Given up a score here and there. Perfect is, for the most part, unattainable in this sport.

What this all seems to boil down to is despite the fact that it has been the greatest run in our history, some in our fan base have been unimpressed because it should have even even better than the best they've ever had it because...well...because they think it should have been. At this a rational person can only shake their head in astonishment at move along.

And I'll address another point again just to do it. Pointing to the previous 10 seasons and showing that it has represented the best run in our history is not avoiding the present. I'll be HAPPY to reasonably talk about whatever deficiencies we may have today. What I won't do as an honest person is allow someone to hijack a discussion about a perceived negative today and pretend the program has ALWAYS suffered from that, when the numbers show otherwise.

I'll never get an honest answer to this question but I'll ask the room in general anyway. Were you as happy about LSU winning at this tremendously high clip since 2005 as you think you could have been? Do you think that your persistent angst with the coach kept you from enjoying what has been this historic run of wins in the history of the program you claim to love? As for me, I can't imagine being much happier. Since I started paying attention to LSU football as a 12 year old in 1982, the best years of my fandom have come in the past 15 years in terms of wins/losses. I've watched a program I almost dared not to dream would ever REALLY win a national title win 2 and play for a third. I'm simply too happy with that to work myself into a tizzy because we didn't win MORE titles in the time frame that marked the best we've ever had.

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Truer words have never been spoken. They actually love Les Miles more than they love LSU. Fact.

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The funny thing is that I believe you. That is, I believe that you people actually believe yourselves when you say this.

When your argument cannot be supported by comprehensive evidence, you face the challenge of arguing against the objective with the purely subjective. When defeat is imminent, you resort to desperate tactics such as making things up and then repeating them over and over to the point that you treat them as fact since you've warped your perception of the debate so much that you are actually capable of believing things that you yourself concocted.

It reminds me of the guy who, every time he's licked in an argument with his wife, makes the weak, desperate, abusive, manipulative move of calling her a cheating, lying whore. It's the ultimate deflection. Now the argument isn't about him buying rims with their vacation money (or the value and potential of a football coach), but rather about her very commitment to the marriage (or whether or not we actually root for LSU).

You're licked. Give it up. Stop calling us whores. We want this marriage to work just as much as you do. Why don't you all just shut the frick up, sleep on the couch for the rest of the week, an let's move on and root for the Tigers?

Why not count BCS Champ game wins?

It would seem those would be relevant.

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Also, many coaches following legends (e.g. Bryant and Spurrier in college, Lombardi in the pros) didn't do so well when "handed the keys to a Ferrari" (as so many like to say).

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It's surprising how overlooked this is. Lsu's house was cleaned, and you wouldn't have known it because there appeared to be literally no disruption within the program due to the coaching change, and there are COUNTLESS instances of a successful coach stepping back aside and leaving his own to take over the program, only to suck balls for four years and get fired. The fact is that it takes a certain type of coach to make a transition that smooth, and Les nailed it. Very few people could pull that off so smoothly, even with all the talent in the world.

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This, right here, is the crux of nearly every criticism of the Les Miles Era at LSU. No one can honestly argue that the numbers suggest anything other than the greatest run of any point in the history of the program.

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If you are going to refer to the "greatest run" in LSU history you probably have to start the run at 2001 or 2003, maybe even 1997.

Of course that would include some particularly inept offenses of late. Which is what my "as good as could be" comment was referring to. Something you seem to be ignoring was the topic of the particular conversation thread.