Les is liking his options right now.
With Michigan (sucks!) quickly realizing that this may, in fact, be Llloydd Carr’s last year as head coach of the Skunkbears (and by “may, in fact, be” I mean “is”), a ton of media attention has been poured on Les Miles, head coach of the LSU football program, as Carr’s potential replacement. And after the smart-bomb-on-an-Iraqi-power-plant-like beat down that LSU just put on Virginia Tech last weekend, it seems like some Michigan (sucks!) fans are slobbering all over themselves at the possibility.
So we got to wondering how this makes fans of LSU feel. Afterall, it’s not as though LSU is some mid-major program. Jumping to Michigan (sucks!) from LSU would hardly be a “promotion.” So we decided to ask a few questions of our friends at AndTheValleyShook.com to get their perspective on this situation and a few other things about the HLS Top-25 #1 ranked Tigers.
1) The entire football world seems a little shocked in the way LSU man-handled Virginia Tech. Did you guys think that LSU would be this good all along? Are you buying the hype, or is there more to this? Is VaTech overrated?
Very few rational folks expected the offense to perform the way it did against the Hokies; losing a QB and the top two wideouts AND installing a new offense made it seem like a relatively straightforward bet that it would take the offense awhile to gel. On the other hand, most everyone expected the defense to be stout. This was solidified not long after the Sugar Bowl when Tiger fans learned that both Glenn Dorsey and Bo Pelini would be back this year. While LaRon Landry was a key loss on that side of the ball, our 8 returning starters had pretty much everyone confident that we wouldn’t drop off much, if at all.
Who knows on the overrated-Va-Tech question. I get annoyed when a good team beats another good team and the world emphatically declares the losing team to be “overrated.” Perhaps the losing team was fairly rated and just got their asses beat? By that logic, the 1995 Nebraska Cornhuskers made every single team that year look overrated. Ergo, no team was deserving of the #2 ranking. Not that we’re the ‘95 Huskers, or even close, but just using that to illustrate a point. We’ll find out over the next few weeks if Virginia Tech really is as bad as we made them look last Saturday. It’s tough to argue against a defense that compiled the #1 ranking in the country for two consecutive seasons entering this one. But clearly they’ve got some previously overlooked problems at QB that are being addressed.
2) Les Miles seems to be the alpha-candidate in the hearts and minds of Michigan (sucks!) fans everywhere for the position of Head Lloydd Carr Replacer. Are you concerned at this point? Les hasn’t been very committal one way or the other when asked about the potential opportunity. Or has he, but the media is burying it for a story?
I’m not that concerned. I like Les Miles plenty enough, and if you scroll through my blog posts throughout last football season you can see that, but I have to say I’m surprised by the amount his star has risen in the last week. I guess the stars really aligned on that front for Les, with our huge win (now clearly the signature win of his 2+ year tenure) coming in conjunction with the world realizing in stunning fashion that Lloyd Carr is done.
If you’d have polled a group of Tiger fans prior to the season, I guarantee you at least half - and likely far more - would have been indifferent if Les left. I don’t think a single person in the blogosphere considered Miles to be aything more than a complete boob. Everyone’s LSU ranking came with the caveat “would be higher if not for the dude on the sidelines wearing the headset.” Yadda yadda yadda. There is plenty truth to the assertion that we’ve turned in subpar performances in pivotal early season games (Tennessee ‘05, Auburn and Florida ‘06). So that little nagging tidbit left most folks unconvinced on Miles’ true acumen as a head coach.
I personally think Les absolutely leaves LSU for Michigan (assuming the season unfolds such that they still want him by the end of it), and I wouldn’t blame him at all. Michigan is his alma mater. He’s a Bo Schembechler guy, and who WOULDN’T take the opportunity to pay tribute to his hero by following in his footsteps? And how often has that Michigan head spot actually been open during our lifetimes? If he passes on it now, he may never again get the same opportunity. Of course he’ll be noncommittal all season, but that’s out of pure respect to his team and Mr. Carr (who hasn’t officially been axed yet, let’s remember).
The disruption to LSU will be a bummer, but probably an overrated issue when it’s all said and done. Having to name the third head coach since 2004 may seem like a big problem, but LSU would clearly exhibit a polar opposite set of circumstances to the typical program in the midst of such turmoil. Hopefully we’ll be coming off a national title and third-straight 11-win season. More…
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