re: The 1/9/12 ripple effect...

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Les was a step down from Saban when he coached his first game at ASU. The team played like Les, not like Saban. Undisciplined, unorganized, penalties, plays called in late, etc. But, Les had a fire, an ambition, an intensity to win. And win he did for several years.

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We all figured he was a step down from Saban, but the ASU game didn't show that. Most folk appreciated that a new coach with a new DC could endure the Katrina chaos and go win a game on the road against a good ASU team, a team which also gave USC a tough fight that year.

Miles did a great job in 2005. Give him credit where it's due. And like you said, his early teams played with passion and intensity and looked like they had fun. And he got the fumbling under control. Maybe I'm remembering wrong, but it seemed like LSU would fumble a good bit and Les cracked down on that.

And although the offense never quite exploded like it should have in 2006, he would've won the west and been in the hunt for a NC if Auburn hadn't paid those refs.

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7th nationally in yards/play. That offense was really good. Hard to marginalize it.

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It was really good. But people downplay it Bc:
1. With those skill players, it HAD to be good
2. According to the traditional stats of yards and points, it wasn't special
3. It does seem that OBJ and Landry bailed it out with circus catches. This may not be true but it's what we all remember
4. It still failed against Bama. Even with all that talent. Meaning, the Les scheme simply has no hope against Bama no matter the personnel.

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2. According to the traditional stats of yards and points, it wasn't special

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It's a testament to how fricking weird support for Miles has gotten that we talk about points per game as if it's some strange old school way of evaluating an offense.

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I always thought points per game was pretty important. Apparently now we have to look at points per play.

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It's retarded.

It's like saying, yeah, your defense only gave up five points per game, but have you seen their yards per play?

I'm like. Da frick. If some a-hole can figure out how to give up 8 yards per play but only five points per game, I'm going to wonder what voodoo he has, but I'm not going to call it bad defense.

And, if the next guy gives up 4 yards per play but 24 points per game, I'm not going to say yeah, but he's better than that first a-hole.