LSU Needs New Coordinators

by Don F. -- The Lakefront guru of LSU football
(New Orleans, LA.)

Hello, LSU faithful. The reason LSU has lost 3 games to date, not including the one they are about to lose to Ole Miss, rests on Les Miles.

Don't get me wrong, I like Les Miles a lot as a person. However, he is definitely NOT the top quality coach everyone thinks. He lacks basic judgment of both coaching staff and players.

First of all, Les does not have anybody to fill Bo Pellini shoes. Two (2) defensive coordinators? - That is outrageous! Tell me something, do you know of any football team in the "Top 20" that use two defensive coordinators and two quarterbacks? That is insane!

You don't see Nick Saban (now that guy I don't like as a person, but must admit he is a hell of a coach) doing stupid things like that, do you?

After winning the national championship last year, Miles could have hand-picked practically anybody in the country to come to LSU and replace Pellini. Heck, they would have packed their bags and been in Baton Rouge quicker than anything, but did Les do that? No! Big big mistake, as you can see.

Our defense, which was in the top 10 in the league the last several years, has now fallen off the charts. Why? Could it be our coaching staff?

I'll bet you anything that Les Miles recruits lack one thing that Nick Saban recruits do not lack - that one thing is "intelligence"! I believe if you look into each players grade point average, you'll find a big margin of difference between the recruits of Saban versus Miles. It shows on the field. I've seen it time and time again this year.

The many mistakes this year are pathetic. It is mainly mental lapses by both players and coaches. Look at the game against Troy, a team that is not in our division and one that we should have beaten easily. Fans, please don't think it was LSU's comeback that won it, Troy GAVE IT AWAY.

How ignorant were their coaches who sent them into the second half (leading by 31 to 3) and having them throw the ball continually. The receivers kept dropping the ball, only a few seconds were used in the process, and Troy all-of-a-sudden became 3 and out on practically every series.

My gosh, LSU got to have the ball again! How many minutes do you think Troy had the ball in the fourth quarter? Troy's coaches (yo-yo's) became brain-dead in the second half.

I'll bet that, if Troy would have run the ball the entire second half or even taken a knee on each and every down in the second half, it would have been impossible (time wise) for LSU to come back and win that game.

It reminded me of the LSU game at Auburn several years ago when we were winning by 3 touchdowns going into the fourth quarter. All of a sudden we started throwing the ball and getting it intercepted. That happened three consecutive series, resulting in three Auburn touchdowns. Auburn eventually won the game because we gave it to them on a silver platter. Hello! Anybody home?

Fans, I want you all to know one thing - I do like Les Miles and I hope he will learn from his mistakes soon. I'd like to see him stay at LSU because he coached well last year. However, he was surrounded by good assistant coaches and staff.

He needs to hire a top notch offensive coordinator and a top notch defensive coordinator at the end of this season if he wants to keep his job at LSU because next season looks to be not much better than this season. The quarterback situation will not be solved nor will Lee be any better next year.

Jarrett Lee was thrown to the dogs this year. He looks right at the receiver he is throwing the ball to and he never pump fakes the ball. The opposing team knows he can't run. He is not a bad back-up QB, but he should not be a starter for any team in the SEC. It's not his fault.

Our defensive coordinators are terrible. Practically anybody can read our defense because we are so simply predictable. The players are either not as good as we keep saying they are or else they are not coachable or else our coordinators are not good. The blame for poor play lies mainly on the shoulders of our defensive coordinators.

Our offensive coordiantor is terrible. He continually makes the same mistakes over-an-over again and puts Lee in third and long situations on a regular basis. That's not how to build confidence in your QB! I know he doesn't have a Matt Flynn, Jacob Hester, or an Early Doucet, but he does have Scott, Williams, Byrd, and LaFell. They are good enough to where we shouldn't be as bad as we look.

That poor play, folks, clearly lies on the shoulder of the offensive coordinator.

I sure hope Mr. Miles can see that he needs to get rid of his current coordinators and hire some top notch guys who can turn this program around before it is too late.