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| Oct 1, 2016; Baton Rouge, LA, USA; LSU Tigers interim head coach Ed Orgeron celebrates following a win in his first game against the Missouri Tigers at Tiger Stadium. LSU defeated Missouri 42-7. Photo Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports |
By Lyn Scarbrough
Lindy's Sports
A week can make a lot of difference.
It was just a week ago that Les Miles, the second winningest coach in LSU history, hat on head, was walking the LSU sideline. Was that really just a week ago?
So much can change in a week.
A week ago, LSU was a month removed from playing Wisconsin, a game controlled for the most part by the Badgers, outplayed on the road, but losing by a narrow margin when it couldn’t generate enough offense, even though the home team had some offensive concerns of its own.
It was a day removed from playing Auburn, a game controlled by the home-standing Tigers, outplayed on the road, but losing by a narrow margin when it couldn’t generate enough offense, even though the home team had some offensive concerns of its own.
See a trend there?
Unfortunately, the second half of last season had given similar results. There was a late collapse with three consecutive double-digit losses and some LSU fans … make that a lot of LSU fans, including some in high places … wanted Les, “The Hat,” gone then. They thought it was a done deal, but a funny thing happened. The Fighting Tigers beat Texas A&M, then had a 56-point offensive explosion in the Texas Bowl against Texas Tech, and the inevitable was delayed.
It finally happened a week ago. The day after Auburn’s win, Miles was let go.
Understandably, the firing got a lot of criticism, especially because of the timing. It raises eyebrows when you fire a coach with a 114-34 record in 11-plus years in the toughest division of the nation’s toughest conference. During those years, four SEC teams (Alabama, Auburn, Florida, LSU) played a combined 10 times in national championship games. LSU won in 2007 and was runner-up in 2011. Five of his teams finished in the Top 10, including three in the Top 5.
But, since their BCS Championship Game appearance in 2011, things had gone downhill. The Tigers were just above break-even against SEC West teams (15-12) and were 4-5 in their last nine games against Power 5 opponents. They had lost 10 of their last 15 road games and three of their last five postseason bowl games.
It wasn’t just the losses, it was how they were losing.
There are 128 Football Bowl Series teams. In the early going this season, LSU ranked 110th or worse in scoring offense, passing offense and total offense. The quarterback position was a game of ineffective musical chairs in 2015 and 2016.
Miles and Cam Cameron, his offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, were blamed for the decline on that side of the ball, despite having the nation’s best running back, Leonard Fournette.
Enough people had enough. Something had to be done they said. So, out with Miles and Cameron. In with defensive line coach Ed Orgeron.
Ed Orgeron?
Yep, the same one that was head coach at Ole Miss for three seasons. In case you don’t remember, the Rebels won 10 of 35 games during those three years, winning only three of 24 SEC games. His last team didn’t win any conference games at all.
At least he did have interim head coaching experience. He was the interim at Southern Cal, winning six of eight games in 2013 before Steve Sarkasian was hired to replace Lane Kiffin. (Speaking of trends, looks like the SEC is a good landing spot for former Southern Cal head coaches, but that’s a story for another day.)
So, what should LSU fans expect now? If Saturday night’s performance against Missouri was an indication, the obituary for the Tigers might have been written too early.
Maybe it was the new excitement level in Tiger Stadium, fans invigorated and ignited by the change. Maybe it was things done differently by the coaching staff. Maybe it was the level of competition. Maybe it was all of those things, but whatever it was, it worked.
The Tigers changed some offensive sets. They seemed to get more players involved in the action. Play-calling seemed more efficient. There were fewer penalties, no turnovers. And, the defense, already the team’s strong suit, seemed to be more inspired.
The result was a dominating 42-7 romp over Missouri. Just a week earlier … while LSU was losing to Auburn and Miles was being fired … the Columbia Tigers were putting up 79 points in a shutout of Delaware State. The Mizzou offense entered the game on Saturday night leading the SEC in offense. But, when the final seconds ticked off in Baton Rouge, they had only 17:18 time of possession, 14 first downs and had 433 fewer total yards than they had the week before.
And the missing LSU offense, the one apparently kidnapped by space aliens for much of the past year, amazingly showed up. Starting for the injured Fournette, Derrius Guice rushed for 163 yards and three touchdowns; Darrell Williams ran for a career-high 130 yards and three more scores; and the offense put up 634 total yards, almost double the output in Jordan-Hare.
“You could feel the electricity in the stadium,” said Orgeron, who grew up in Larose, La., in Lafourche Parish and played high school ball at South Lafourche High in Galliano. “This is what it’s supposed to be.”
That’s how it was so many times during Miles’ years there.
I’ll admit it. I’ll miss Les Miles. There aren’t many coaches left that eat grass on the sideline. There aren’t many left that make such off-the-wall coaching decisions during the games, then give such quotable quotes after the games, win or lose. And, there aren’t many coaches who average 10 wins a year for over a decade in college football’s most difficult conference, and then get fired.
Miles’ firing, along with the firing of Mark Richt at Georgia at the end of the 2015 season after a highly successful tenure in Athens, might raise questions about just how attractive or fair head coaching positions have become in the SEC. We know that they are financially lucrative, but not sure what else we know. (That, too, is a story for another day.)
For now, things are again how they’re “supposed to be” in Baton Rouge. But, how long will things be that way?
Before the season ends, LSU has to travel to Fayetteville and College Station. Alabama and Ole Miss come to Tiger Stadium. So does Southern Miss (which beat Kentucky in Lexington) and South Alabama (which beat Mississippi State in Starkville.)
And, on Saturday, they play the Florida Gators in The Swamp.
A week can make a lot of difference.
Lindy's Sports columnist Lyn Scarbrough is a contributor to this blog. He lives deep in SEC country and offers his take on the College Football landscape.
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