🏈 Let's be real.

[geauxtigers225]

let me start off by saying that our program is located where it's at today because of the turnaround that Coach Saban orchestrated. He closed the state's borders from other schools coming into Louisiana to steal our recruits, and had the ability to read the overall athlete and turn him into a specialized weapon. His recruiting abilities are phenomenal. He revamped the lackluster work ethic and conditioning of the program, and rewarded the program with a championship. Without that overhaul, we would not even be having this conversation. However, the discussion of the Tiger's success relying solely on the few of Saban's recruited players is worn out. I won't argue that last years title was questionable with two losses, but to steal Saban's words.........(paraphrase circa 2003)the BCS is the system that is in place to determine a champion, and that is all we can concern ourselves with. Fast forward to last year, where a select few of his players remain, and I'd argue that our success was driven by some luck, a team united to achieve greatness, and you'd have to argue that coach miles and crowton played a huge part of that equation. It wasn't Saban or simply the few remnants of his recruiting skills. Although it's still early, take a look at the rivals.com recruiting rankings.

http://rivals100.rivals.com/teamrank.asp?SID=880

I'll summarize by telling you that LSU has the 4th ranked recruiting class while BAMA has #7 (unfortunately Fat Phil is still slinging enough donuts to have the #6 class, although I think that will change after their performance this year)

Other factors such as gutsy play calling(fake fg toss over the back against South Carolina, going on 4th down against Florida, all or nothing TD pass with 1 second remaining to steal the win against the Barn)play a major factor in the success that we've enjoyed after Coach Saban left. Those are calls that Coach Saban would have never made. The key is that Saban is a defensive guru, and he hangs his success on the ability of a defense to force an offense to beat HIM. Miles is an O-line coach that preaches hard nosed football is won in the trenches. Their approach to running their program is as different as the offensive/defensive backgrounds that they came from.

Either way, I have great respect for both coaches and I believe that it's far fetched to believe that LSU will disappear with the graduation of a couple of guys he was around to recruit. BOTTOM LINE, is that the drama of coaching changes adds a spicy wrinkle to the rivalry between two great programs and the landscape of the SEC will continue to dominate the rest of the country.

 

[Perdido Tide]

LSU has recruited a ton of talent, that isnt the problem. Lee needs to mature as a QB and the DC's need to change something.

I imagine these two teams will be the ones fighting for the west for at least the next few years if not longer.

 

[Guest]

Les Miles was 28-21 in four years at Okie State. He was a very, very average coach.

Les Miles stepped into a paradise that only a very lucky man could ever have happen to him. As he stepped off the plane and set foot on Red Stick territory, he was set up to succeed.

Very few coaches have ever had the stockpile of talent that was presented to him on a silver platter.

Not only talent, but these LSU players were disciplined, strong, well conditioned, well honed machines that had been trained by one of the finest organizational minds that college football has ever witnessed.

Believe it or not, but that type of mindset does not disappear overnight, it is a lifestyle. Coach Saban left his imprint in the attitude, outlook, and behavior of all of these fantastically gifted players.

Les Miles took a golden opportunity and rode it as far as anyone with a half of a crawdad brain would. He has milked it and drained that LSU team of the last ounce of Coach Saban's influence.

Now, he will slowly and inexorable turn that LSU team right back into the beating post of teams like Alabama. He will turn them into his version of Oklahoma State, which is a 7 win one season, a 9 win another season, a 5 win in another season type of team.

Talent doesn't win ball games alone and Miles is going to lose at least 3 games this year. Maybe 4 and possibly even 5 the next year.

With the irrationality of LSU fans being quite possibly the worst of any fanbase in the nation, he will be very lucky to make it two more years after this season.

Remember back before Coach Saban came to 'Bama and LSU lost 2 games 2 years in a row. I went to the Tiger Rant site during that second year of 2 losses and fans were talking about maybe burning his house down and things like that.

Yep, Les is on borrowed time as far as being the head coach of Ole Miss and Tulane's rival.

Honestly, I see Ole Miss being much better than LSU in just a couple of years. Nutt is in his element now, a talent rich state with players to spare. He is going to be trouble and he is going to be who everyone fears to play, not LSU.

 

[Guest]

Very classy post geauxtigers225. Though I'll have to agree to disagree on Miles. I do think he's an above average coach, but I don't see him as much more than that. He'll definitely keep you guys in the mix for the next few years, but I think LSU's success will diminish slowly year by year. But that's just my opinion, and that's why they play the game. Should be a real good one on Saturday against a couple of top-notch SEC teams, that's for sure.

 

[TerryP]

A couple of thoughts here...one of which very well may be my last on the subject this week. (although I'll probably get a hair up my *** and that ends up leading to a blog entry on the subject)

Already, both on Bama forums and LSU forums I'm seeing discussions come up about Miles. Heck, before you guys faced Tulane I caught a blog entry on one of the LSU blogs about Miles and him having something to prove this weekend.

Even knowing the answer, I had to question "prove to whom?" It was the author of the blog, easily.

I hate that this game is already focused, in terms of conversations, on who is on the sidelines rather than who is on the field. It does bear its place in the conversation, granted. But, it should be THE conversation.

One side of a point you bring up on "gutsy calls" is something I don't disagree with, but at the same time it is where I use the term "lucky." For any team to go 50% on 4th down conversions there is a huge element of luck involved. For a team to go 13/16 (like LSU did last year) it is simply amazing. With just a handful of those calls going a different direction the '07 wouldn't have been something in the conversation today in terms of "how well LSU did last season."

But hey, I'm more of a traditional football fan...a fan of teams based on solid fundamental play, a strong defense, and not a team that has to take a lot of chances to win.

That's me. And, a the core of that is certainly found on the style of football I grew up being a fan of...

This years game brings a completely different story plot than last years. Bama was in the running for the West going into that Saturday and the road to ATL was patrolled by the Tigers. This season, it takes going against the Tide.

All that said...I've had just about all I can take (and it's only Monday) of coaching comparisons. I'm all for discussing how these teams are going to line up with each other.

All that said, I suspect we'll see a lot of this weeks focus on the Miles led Tigers post-Saban than the Saban led Tide.

 

[Guest]

Referring to Terry's post above ^^^(I don't like to quote long posts) I have to agree that what I like most about our team this year is that we are winning without a lot of "fanciness". We don't run goofy offenses, fill the air with footballs and depend on big plays to win games.
We win with 10+ play drives,a consistent running game, crushing defense and penalty free football.
I like our disciplined approach and can't wait till Saturday!!

 

[Guest]

I'm with Terry. Why even try to do this again this year?

It was one thing last year but cmon, the only people I see lusting after this coaches battle BS is mostly LSU fans. I could care less if CNS came from LSU, USC, UF. As long as its not AU of course :lol: . I don't care about the mad hatter. He must be akin to ole Nutt because both are nuts in terms of risk and play calling at times. Luck eventually runs out. Other teams have tried smoke and mirrors on Bama and so far, it hasn't worked.

Let's just deal with what gets done on the field. Whoop them tigers at their home!! :twisted:

 

[Chuck-E-Cheeze]

Altie, I literally belly-laughed out loud when I read the part about the "half of a crawdad brain".

I don't know why that is so funny to me, but it is.

 

[bamafan4ever]

First, geauxtigers225, I thought your points were reasonable and there is a lot of tit for tat going on with the LSU boards saying that Saban is winning with Mike Shula's recruits :roll: . Then I read on LSU boards how some will admit, like you, that CNS turned the LSU program around and they will always be grateful for that while some say they will hate him always because he went to the "arch rival", Alabama. (I guess I never realized we were considered LSU's "arch rival".

That being said, Miles has held his own by recruiting talent to LSU after the departure of CNS and has coached his talent up well enough to win the MNC last year. Is Miles responsible for LSU football being where it is today? No. He is not the program builder that Saban is but he can obviously maintain a program once it has been raised from the depths of Dinardo-like coaching.

I do get a chuckle when LSU fans beat Saban down like he is the Devil and act as if they prefer Miles to Saban. I just don't believe it.

 

[geauxtigers225]

First, geauxtigers225, I thought your points were reasonable and there is a lot of tit for tat going on with the LSU boards saying that Saban is winning with Mike Shula's recruits :roll: . Then I read on LSU boards how some will admit, like you, that CNS turned the LSU program around and they will always be grateful for that while some say they will hate him always because he went to the "arch rival", Alabama. (I guess I never realized we were considered LSU's "arch rival".

That being said, Miles has held his own by recruiting talent to LSU after the departure of CNS and has coached his talent up well enough to win the MNC last year. Is Miles responsible for LSU football being where it is today? No. He is not the program builder that Saban is but he can obviously maintain a program once it has been raised from the depths of Dinardo-like coaching.

I do get a chuckle when LSU fans beat Saban down like he is the Devil and act as if they prefer Miles to Saban. I just don't believe it.

 

[geauxtigers225]

Sorry on the post above, I composed my response in the wrong box so it wasn't included in the post.

First, geauxtigers225, I thought your points were reasonable and there is a lot of tit for tat going on with the LSU boards saying that Saban is winning with Mike Shula's recruits :roll: . Then I read on LSU boards how some will admit, like you, that CNS turned the LSU program around and they will always be grateful for that while some say they will hate him always because he went to the "arch rival", Alabama. (I guess I never realized we were considered LSU's "arch rival".

That being said, Miles has held his own by recruiting talent to LSU after the departure of CNS and has coached his talent up well enough to win the MNC last year. Is Miles responsible for LSU football being where it is today? No. He is not the program builder that Saban is but he can obviously maintain a program once it has been raised from the depths of Dinardo-like coaching.

I do get a chuckle when LSU fans beat Saban down like he is the Devil and act as if they prefer Miles to Saban. I just don't believe it.

I don't agree with the LSU fans who can't stand Coach Saban. I'd say the majority of them realize and appreciate where he left the program. I can comprehend why those who dislike him is because they feel as though they were betrayed and that he was less than open or honest in the process. Those delusional fans don't get that he left LSU for a dream job in the NFL. I'd challenge any of them to turn down a comparable promotion in their given fields. I think that the way he handled the switch wasn't the best way, but as we all know Coach Saban isn't concerned with what the media thinks or anybody else that disagrees with him or that he isn't open with the media. Wayne Huizenga, miami dolphins owner, flew into Baton Rouge in his private jet with the dolphins logo Christmas eve to ink the deal. Meanwhile Saban is absolutely denying interest in that position as the local news is running live broadcasts of him walking onto the plane. Bottom line is he made a decision that enabled him to chase a dream, and it never hurts that when you get a little pay raise either. I don't think that the majority of the fans would truly prefer Miles to Saban, but have committed to supporting him as our coach and will tell you they'd prefer him. I do find it humorous that they project anger towards him when we all know that these are the same guys who still have shrines of him in their closets.

 

[bamascott2]

I've read a few LSU boards the last few days and was surprised that there were so many threads and posts that were complimentary toward Saban, for the most part.

I'm sure there's a percentage of LSU fans that feel that they have to tear down their former HC as a way of elevating their current HC. That's probably a natural coping reaction.

God knows, I felt the same way about Fran. :?

 

[BamaGradinTN]

One thing is for sure...Saban won't get to touch the ball Saturday, and LSU fans won't get to block or tackle him. This year's LSU players by and large didn't play for him. Saban has already demonstrated an ability to get this team's mind off the externals and focused on the opposing team in these big road games...Clemson, UGA, UT.

LSU has serious problems on the defensive side of the ball. We saw it before UGA and UF. When Sylvester Croom scored 24 on a Saturday night in Baton Rouge, that should have sounded an alarm bell. Miss. State, who could only score 2 against Auburn and 3 against ut, got 24 against LSU. That's why the 50+ that UGA and UF scored weren't a surprise. Bama should be able to score 30, and it will be enough

 

[lilstat]

Well I think as CNS says, the game should be about the players. Im by far an LSU fan. Cant stand them, but their no Auburn or TN. But for you guys saying Les Miles will fall out and stop winning is far fetched. You have to remember that this is the SEC and any team in this conference can suprise anyone in any year. Take Alabama for instance this year. We wasnt suppose to be this good were we? But we are. I just think any team in the SEC can do a 180 in one year as we did. There is just so much talent in the south that any team is a threat each and every year.

 

[Guest]

Altie, I literally belly-laughed out loud when I read the part about the "half of a crawdad brain".

I don't know why that is so funny to me, but it is.

I always think of crawdads when I think of LSU.

 

[Swamptick]

Who is Les Miles?