If this were last year, maybe playing for the field would be the right choice. We were at the outer limits of his range on his best day and Alleman has been shaky all season. You just can't put your trust in an inconsistent kicker at that time.

You have to try to get the first down. First down... game over.

I don't like the FG right there because first and foremost, a TD still beats you, not to mention the fact the Allemond had been struggling. Even though Bama didn't have any timeouts, there was still plenty of time on the clock for them to work the sidelines and 1st down stoppages. I vote play action because Bama was expecting run in that situation. Have a WR run a 7yard hitch. Almost unguardable if timing is right. Oh well, if hindsight was 20/20, I'd be a very wealthy man.

You are exactly right. Bama knew, in fact everyone in the world knew that we were going to run the football and set up a field goal. Playaction throw it to Cope coming out of the backfield, if he gets the first game over, if he doesn't clock still runs and you can still set up your field goal attempt.

True enough. But then maybe Les needs to delegate "in-game" decision making to someone else.

I wouldn't be opposed to that. It seems that in this game especially, he was conservative when he shouldn't have been, and too aggressive when he should have been conservative.

He obviously does a lot of good things as a head coach. But his in game decision making is terrible, and has always been terrible. When LSU finally scored their first TD on Saturday night (by the way, first TD against Bama in 2 years!).......TS was going crazy. All the momentum was on LSU's side. Enter CLM: On-sides kick. Momentum...back to the Tide. I almost fell off my barstool.

I felt the same way. I just went slack-jawed. That was completely unneccessary.

Of all the "questionable" coaching decisions made in this game this was the one I think was the most justified. We had so much momentum if we would have recovered the kick that could have been the dagger in Bama's heart. As it was, Bama's series ended in a fumble which we recovered anyway.

You know Grad, maybe that was why he didn't try to pick up the first down on 3rd and just played for the FG, maybe he figured everything risky I've done tonight has failed, better play conservative. But in my opinion a first down pass had a better chance at working than Alleman kicking a 40 plus yard field goal. They were calling great pass plays and everyone from Boone, OBJ, Jarvis, Cope, Jacobs, all catching and Mett was on fire with his arm. A short pass play behind the sticks on play action would have been safe, kept the clock rolling, and gave a better chance at a 1st down against a D that was selling out run. Just my opinion.