Yet there are many on this and other LSU boards that would try to sell you that he is a much better coach than Miles.
The Beauregard Daily News (Deridder, LA -- Beauregard Parish) published this on Les: Les Miles adds to the legend There should be no more debate about Les Miles as a coach. The bottom line is that Miles is one of the best bowl game coaches there is, as evidenced by his record. Since coming to LSU, Miles is 4-0 in bowls. In his career, Miles is 5-2 in postseason games. The only year that Miles did not go to a bowl game was his first year as a head coach at Oklahoma State. But let's consider specifically those last four years. The scores in those games were 40-3, 41-14, 38-24 and 38-3. In other words, Miles' LSU teams have not only won their bowl games, but dominated them, blowing out opponents. And it is not as if they have been playing inferior competition, either. Two of those wins have come in the Chick fil-A Bowl (formerly the Peach Bowl), which is, admittedly, a second-tier bowl game. But in those two games, Miles' teams have outscored their opponents 78-6. The opponent in 2005 was the Miami Hurricanes, who at the time were ranked ninth in both major polls and eighth in the BCS. In fact, the Chick fil-A bowl that year was the only non-BCS bowl game to feature two teams ranked in the top 10 (LSU was 10th in both major polls, but only 12th in the BCS rankings system). In that game, LSU used a first-time starter at quarterback and made Miami's third-ranked defense look befuddled and incompetent. The following year, Miles led his Tigers into the Sugar Bowl, where they made poster-boy Irish quarterback Brady Quinn look like Mother Theresa -- he kept giving the ball away. In his third year, the Tigers went to the BCS National Championship game in New Orleans, where they overcame an early 10-0 deficit to run out to a 38-17 lead before the Buckeyes got a late garbage touchdown, making it the second straight year that the Buckeye’s season had ended with an SEC boot firmly implanted in their posterior. And this past season, the Tigers went into a showdown, again in the Chick fil-A Bowl with Georgia Tech. LSU was unranked, while the Yellow Jackets were 14th in the AP and the same in the BCS. This one turned into another laugher, as LSU dismantled the Ramblin' Wreck and it's vaunted offense, 38-3. Of course, detractors might point out that he did it with Nick Saban’s talent, or that he beat inferior teams, or some other such nonsense. Bottom line: In the last four years, LSU has rampaged through its bowl games like Genghis Kahn through Central Asia, whether they have faced the nation's top-ranked teams or not. No other team, with the possible exception of USC, can claim that sort of success over the years. Just by way of example, do you think a Les Miles-coached team would have lost to Utah the way Alabama did last night? The numbers say no. The only possible conclusion from these numbers is that given a month to prepare, Miles might be ready to be beat the New England Patriots. Debates about Miles' coaching chops will continue, of course, but I think the coaches at Oklahoma (Stoops: 4-5), Notre Dame (Weis: 1-2), and Ohio State (Tressel: 4-3 including two blowout losses in BCS title games) would like to know where he gets his mojo. http://www.deridderdailynews.com/sports/x1060495533/Les-Miles-adds-to-the-legend
That article I just posted above gave a shout-out to Carroll: Bottom line: In the last four years, LSU has rampaged through its bowl games like Genghis Kahn through Central Asia, whether they have faced the nation's top-ranked teams or not. No other team, with the possible exception of USC, can claim that sort of success over the years. Just by way of example, do you think a Les Miles-coached team would have lost to Utah the way Alabama did last night? The numbers say no. The only possible conclusion from these numbers is that given a month to prepare, Miles might be ready to be beat the New England Patriots. Debates about Miles' coaching chops will continue, of course, but I think the coaches at Oklahoma (Stoops: 4-5), Notre Dame (Weis: 1-2), and Ohio State (Tressel: 4-3 including two blowout losses in BCS title games) would like to know where he gets his mojo.
With the exception of the Sugar Bowl vs Our Lady, I believe LSU was the lower ranked team in every other game, no?
We can also add another bowl loss to: Bob Stoops 1-5 in last six 2003 - lost Sugar to LSU, 14-21 2004 - lost Orange to USC, 19-55 2005 - won Holiday over Oregon, 17-14 2006 - lost Fiesta to Boise State, 42-43 2007 - lost Fiesta to West Virginia, 28-48 2008 - lost BCSNG to Florida Jim Tressel 1-3 in last four 2005 - won Fiesta over Notre Dame, 34-20 2006 - lost BCSNCG to Florida, 14-41 2007 - lost BCSNCG to LSU, 24-38 2008 - lost Fiesta Bowl to Texas Steve Spurrier 2-4 in last six 1999 - lost Citrus to Mich State, 34-37 2000 - lost Sugar to Miami, 20-37 2001 - won Orange over Maryland, 56-23 2005 - lost Independence to Missouri, 31-38 2006 - won Liberty over Houston, 44-36 2008 - lost Outback to Iowa
