Les Miles, More Whupass
2007-07-04
Posted by: badanov
Listening to sports talk radio today, a New Orleans newspaper interviewed LSU head football coach Les Miles and his views on the BCS were rather Tubervillian, if you will.
You may recall last year Auburn head football coach Tommy Tuberville in the middle of the season had a few words to day about the BCS folks, about the unfairnes of it all. And let's face it in some way the BCS folks have been unfair to Auburn given their record until last year.
Last year, however, Tuberville wanted everyone to know about his views on the BCS and then Georgia came by and soundly kicked Auburn Tiger ass. Our view at the time was Tuberville should have kept quiet because the defeat at the hands of a Dawg team which wound up sucking almost as bad as Auburn simply imprinted in our mind, Tuberville didn't know what he was talking about.
Now, Les Miles commits a Tuberville.
The gist of the report was that Miles claimed that USC, its estwhile rival for the national championship, was going to have an easy time. The Trokans were in an easy conference, and they faced little excellent football, certainly not the intensity the SEC presents to the game.
We agree that the SEC is at this moment in time the best football conference in the nation. Something about all them southern boys who love to play smashmouth football, make it hard to argue the conference is other than the very toughest.
But we have in the past seen USC go against the "easy" Pac 10 and then roll over many opponents, Oklahoma springs to mind. The PAC 10 may be "easy" but we ain't seeing it.
Miles has been in the middle of the SEC with a devastatingly good record against this kind of competition, right up to last years' Sugar Bowl.
But we have heard from a few sources that the SEC west, where LSU resides is about to undergo a major shift and in the center of it will be LSU, literally.
Reading Athlon Sports preseason review of LSU rattles off a number of returning veterans, but our analysis without a depth chart shows that LSU is returning zero seniors at their offensive line.
Now, we know, returning senioirs don't mean a thing except when you're trying to drive for a national championship, and then the dearth of seniors on the offensive line are a real factor with a minimally experienced quarterback, Matt Flynn. A less than mature offensive line affects many areas including special teams, PATs and field goals.
Athlon Sports doesn't mention the o-line likely for that reason. The Tigers will return a solid defense, good for a 9-2 season, but not enough to play for the Big Game in January.
A mitigating factor will be the Tigers' schedule. LSU goes against projected ACC top dawg Virginia Tech as their second game but afterwards has only three SEC road games against Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Alabama. It wouldn't suprise us if LSU splits this slate 2-1 and loses against Florida or Virginia Tech.
But you gotta admit it is strange even with this cream puff sked, Miles would be crying to the New Orleans press about how hard life is.
Miles could be shaping the press up for a big disappointment. We see the Tigers as lucky to win nine games. Their questions are with the Hokies, the Gators and maybe, the Tide or the Hawgs, their season closer.
If you have something to add, Fire Away!
Number of Comments so far: 0
Click here
for a list of stories in the College Sports category