Tigers in Deep Trouble </SPAN> BY DAVID FOLSE II Sports Editor We are all fans. We all have our favorite teams that we root for and live vicariously threw their wins and their losses. The one big advantage I have over the distinguished readers of the Southwest Daily-News is that I get to vent my rage to everybody and it is in print. aAds = new Array();aAds[0] = new Array();aAds[0][0] = '+middle';aAds[0][1] = '12177';aAds[0][2] = 'gif';aAds[0][3] = '';aAds[0][4] = '1';displayAd('http://adsys.townnews.com', 'sulphurdailynews.com', aAds); Okay, buckle up the seatbelts because here we go. There are serious, serious problems in Baton Rouge with the LSU Tigers. I know what you are saying, “oh, they went 10-2 and played for the conference championship, your just bitter.” Wrong, Wrong, Wrong. Nick Saban, remember him, left current LSU Head Coach Les Miles with a multitude of talent. I'm talking USC-type talent. What has Miles done with it? Well, let's see. He should have lost the Arizona State game, he blew a 21-point second half lead to Tennessee, he beat Auburn only after they missed like 100 field goals and was a lucky safety away from losing to Arkansas. LSU could have been a 7-4 team. Let me repeat that, A 7-4 TEAM. THAT'S THE FREAKING INDEPENDENCE BOWL! If Athletic Director Skip Bertman is comfortable with that, then Miles is not going to have a problem staying in Baton Rouge for a long time. However, I have a feeling that Tiger fans have a much different opinion on the matter. So what is specifically wrong with the Tigers? The defense is fine. They just had a bad game against Georgia. That happens. This is one of the better defenses in all of the country. Defensive coordinator Bo Pelini needed the Arizona State game to realize what he had to change and to his credit he did that and now the Tigers are back to their attacking-style, blitzing defense. People will say that the defense played a bad game and so did the offense, but the biggest difference with the LSU offense is that they have not had a good game this year and don't tell me the Ole Miss game. West Monroe High School could challenge Ole Miss. The problem with the offense is simple, but it is also complicated. Granted the wide receivers have been perhaps the biggest disappointment of the season with their ability to not catch the football; but the play-calling has also stunk. There is no other way to put it, it has simply stunk. Here comes the complicated part. I don't know if it Les Miles or offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher is calling the plays, but the Southeastern Conference LSU Tigers have turned into the Big 10-Big 12 LSU Tigers. Take a guess on what conference Les Miles used to coach in (hint Oklahoma State) and what conference he played college football in (hint Michigan). On a team where he has had the most playmakers ever in his career and for those of you who do not know, that is people who can take the ball to the house, Miles had decided to revert back to Big 10 football. What is Big 10 football? First down run, second down run, third down, when everyone in the stadium including the other team knows you are going to pass, pass and then punt the football away. It is also starting to trickle down in the recruiting aspects as well. Look at the LSU recruiting class. Saban would go out and try and land the best playmakers that he could. What is Miles doing? Low-profile receivers and pile up on the running backs. I wonder what kind of play-calling he is going to want to have in the future hmmmmmmmmmmmm? Let's shift over to quarterback Aaron Brooks, I mean JaMarcus Russell. The comparisons to the Saints quarterback are quite legitimate. While there is no questioning the physical stature and ability of both quarterbacks, the question that the coaching staff must take into consideration with these two quarterbacks is if the reward is worth the risk that they also bring. With both Brooks and Russell they have flashes of brilliance, but it always seems to be one step forward and two steps back. This brings us to next season. Let's move past the bowl game and into the 2006 campaign. There is a quarterback on the bench for the Tigers named Ryan Perrilloux. Did I mention that the redshirt freshman was the National High School Player of the Year in 2004? Russell is entering his redshirt junior season in 2006. The question heading into spring practice is will Miles open up the quarterback competition? Will Perrilloux get a chance to earn the starting spot? If he doesn't even get the opportunity I believe that Perrilloux will bolt Baton Rouge. That's another similarity with Brooks. If Miles doesn't open up the quarterback position for competition and Perrilloux leaves it is just like what Saints Head Coach Jim Haslett has done with Brooks. Haslett has eliminated all of Brooks' legitimate competition (i.e. Jake Delhomme, Marc Bulger and J.T. O'Sullivan.) I don't know if this is the fan in me coming out, but I have got to believe that Miles at least promised Perrilloux the opportunity to compete for the starting quarterback position after redshirting his true freshman season.</SPAN> Print this story Email this story [FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular][SIZE=-1][ Home Page ][ Local News ][ Sports ][ Classifieds ][ Business Directory ][ Obituaries ] [ About Us ][ Health ][ Entertainment ][ Town Hall ][ World News ][ Stocks/Market ] [/SIZE][/FONT]
Your talking dillusional-type talent. Name one of our Heisman winners? Heisman contestants? Funny, how when the other team fails to execute we got lucky, but when we fail to execute it's due to poor coaching. 1) Auburn's last missed fieldgoal would have only tied the game. 2) Not getting that safety would have only tied the game. But we weren't, and that's what counts & where champions come through. Vanderbilt was almost a 7-4 team, but you know what - they aren't. Unfortunately, Miles actually has had more playmakers on some of his Oklamoha St teams than he does here. Again, dillusions. hmmmmm, already stockpiled "talented" receivers & currently down to our 4th string runningback? Gee, he must be an idiot for recruiting runningbacks! Plain ignorance. JaMarcus has vastly improved & will continue to get better. JaMarcus Russell & Matt Flynn weren't exactly recruited as bottom-dwellars. If Ryan is the best QB, then Ryan will play. So far, JaMarcus has proven to be the best of the bunch.
I see why this fellow is writing for a small town newspaper and not for a major market. He's a genius.
It's cute that Sulphur has their very own spelling of "daily." This guy is one big story away from the big time. Maybe even Ville Platte.
Talk about looking at the glass being half empty....WOW! That was the first and only time I'll ever read anything from the Sulphur paper and a couple of minutes of my life that I'll never get back.
What an idiot!! He must not have ever seen Ok State throw it all over the ballyard with a so-so QB and a receiver(Rashaun Woods) that is 10x's better than any LSU had on the field this year... They also threw the the hell out of it to a TE that was all Big 12... This guy must not watch much more than Sulphur, McNeese, or LSU highlights!! He sure has hell doesn't know what he is writing about!! :geauxtige
I remember this fellow from a history class as well as from the Tiger's Lair, where everyone hated him. He writes internet quality articles. It seems he culls from the various LSU message boards and puts together what resembles a grammatically correct, but non-new thought post. When he used to post on the Lair, his posts were not very good. When you read newspaper articles, there should be some element of original thought, but sadly there rarely is in Louisiana. Folse is just a prototype of those plagerizing writers; others, especially in The Advocate, are able to disguise it slightly better. P.S. The title "II" should be "Jr." When you have a son, you can then call him David "III." LSU
