Bottoming Out

bottom out

 /ˈbɑt̬·əˈmɑʊt/

verb — phrasal verb with bottom

› to reach the lowest point in a changing situation, before any improvement begins

 

 

I think that term is apt, not just for this season but for the Les Miles tenure at LSU.  Gaining the fewest yards since a 1975 game against Texas A&M, the LSU offense defined futility.  In reality we should not be surprised by this outcome, a tough loss to Alabama, an offense regressing each week and a hungry opponent all spelled doom for the Tigers.

While I hate to read too much into one game, this weekend was a microcosm of the biggest failure of the Mile era, the inability to develop QB’s and put out a creative offensive game plan.  I’m not going to rehash the failures of Mr. Miles in respect to the QB’s, but you can read my in depth break down from a few weeks ago.

I’m not even going to delve into the gory details of the game.  The defense played well enough to win, the offense was an absolute joke…again. 

So the question is, what’s next?

Unfortunately, I fear, more of the same.  There is no savior at QB on the horizon and even if there was, I don’t trust Miles to actually “turn over” the offense to his offensive coordinator like he has done on the defensive side of the ball. 

My thoughts going forward are this:

1.      Miles is NOT going anywhere for the foreseeable future.  Unless he somehow ends up at Michigan, he will be LSU’s coach until he retires or gets fired.  I do not think he deserves to be fired, but I also have little faith he will lead LSU to any more titles of any kind.

2.      What would it take for the administration to move on him?  Probably three consecutive 7-6 seasons or two consecutive losing seasons.  Mack Brown and Will Muschamp may give us a window into what could force a change.  Brown was 30-21 over his last four seasons, 18-17 in the Big XII.  Muschamp was 27-20 overall and 17-15 in the SEC in his tenure at Florida.

3.      Miles has gone 8-0, 6-2, 5-3 and 3-4 in the SEC the last four seasons.  There has been a clear downward trend in LSU’s conference performance.  A loss versus A&M would leave the Tigers 14-10 in the SEC over the last three years, a 58% winning percentage. Another 3-5 SEC record in 2015 would leave Miles at 17-15 over four seasons, exactly where Muschamp finished when he was shown the door at Florida.

4.      Miles has a much better resume than Muschamp and thus will have the 2015 and 2016 seasons to get LSU back to the type of success he has had earlier in his tenure.  But he is going to have to solve the QB situation and get the offense moving.

As much as this feels like the bottom, it could get worse.  But it could also get better with so many young players returning next season.  It is difficult to reconcile the games we have seen this season occurring with the same team.  LSU was gritty enough to beat Wisconsin, Florida and Ole Miss while pushing Alabama to the absolute limit.  But this is the same group of players that got blown out by Auburn, dominated by Miss. State and embarrassed by Arkansas.

My personal feeling is that Miles has gotten stale and LSU could do with a change.  I think there are talented coaches out there that could jump start the program and get the Tigers trending in the right direction.  Should Miles be fired? Absolutely not.  But having said that, I personally don’t have much, if any, faith in him bringing LSU the glory he has in the past.  The worst thing you can do to a fan is take away hope, and that’s what Mr. Miles is doing to my fandom.

 

Final Four: Week 11

Each week I will be posting my Final Four based a combination of games played thus far and predictions about the eventual participants.  My four is a combination of what has actually happened on the field and my evaluations projecting out to the end of the season.

Semi-Finals

(1)   Alabama v. (4) Ohio State

(2)   FSU v. (3) Oregon

National Championship
FSU v. Ohio State