Im still recovering from saturday night! Living on the edge is exhilarating but Miles is 2 plays away from being one of the most ridiculed coaches in LSU history. If you have a different result on that last 4th down against Florida and screw up the clock management on the last play against Auburn, this board would be in complete meltdown right now. I would just as soon not be put in position to take those risks anymore. The law of averages is going to catch up with us and I dont think my heart can handle another gut wrenching game that comes down to taking huge risks like that. But man...WHAT A RIDE! :thumb:
Plain and simple. Execution made Miles look like a genius. A ton of things could have gone wrong on that play that COULD have cost us the game. Only 1 thing could have went right. Luckily Flynn made a perfect throw, and Byrd made probably the best catch of the year for us. The coverage was there, and he hung with the ball and brought it in. A good comparison to this situation would be Drawing four with an Ace in your hand in five card draw and ending up with 4 aces.
The fact remains that there is a marked difference between greatness and mediocrity. Miles seems to court disaster while achieving his goals. It shows an inordinate confidence in his players and very in depth understanding of their abilities. The naysayers look back at his "gambles" and can only see it as weakness and a chance to point out he is inferior to them, simply because of "what if". The very same people who lay up in golf, when Tiger Woods grips it and rips it. Even so, this coaching staff seems to be very calculating, and not reckless at all. I think it has more to do with envy, and as time moves along, Miles' victories will pile up, and the rest of the world will be forced to accept him as good coach.
Hardly a good comparison. A simple throw and catch while the advantage was ours. Their defense had no time to switch players, they obviously were keying for the run, Byrd knew he was being played to the inside. All very strong reasons to indicate a clear advantage and run that play. The timing of it(last play of the game) lends more weight to the drama and outcome but in no way shifts our advantage in anyway. Coupled with Colt(a really good kicker) missing vs Florida and then Kentucky, Miles gave us a legitimate chance to try both things. He made the correct call, but will get little credit for it.
If we managed the clock "better" and scored with 15 seconds left and Auburn scored after we'd be in meltdown, if the situation had been reversed and Tubby did what Miles did he'd be labeled a frickin' genius, if Miles had set Colt David up for a FG and he'd missed all hell would have broken loose, if RP hadn't of fumbled we'd have had a more comfortable margin of victory, if my aunt had a penis she'd be my uncle. I agree that I don't like the games coming down to the wire. But other than Miles not taking a timeout before that last play (something that I don't necessarily think was a mistake), I don't get the criticism on the last drive, especially not the stuff about the clock management. There would have been 3/4 seconds on the clock if Byrd had not caught the TD, which would have given us time to try for the fieldgoal. Which would you rather have, two chances to score, or one?
Bottom line is that CLM doesn't play "not to lose" - he plays "TO WIN". Yes, sometimes it won't work out. But how many times in the past many, many years have we all moaned and groaned about coaches playing "not to lose"? I don't think we have to worry about that with CLM. Go Tigers! On to the Les-Saban Bowl! LSU!
Maybe the overriding factor is what CLM calls his "Feel for the game" when making decisions. Football is much more exciting for everyone when you have a coach that will take chances because he has a feel for the game. Tiger Woods has a feel for the game and takes chances. Our last coach was a good coach but was totally invested in process. Process is good and will win games. Miles approaches things differently and is winning big games for us. :thumb:
If you think there would be 3/4 seconds left in the game after that play I think you need to check the rules. Im pretty sure the game clock rules state that it doesn't stop unless there is a referee signal. Only a whistle or arm signal can stop the clock. I think everything is considered a "live ball" until a signal. Time is only put back on the clock when replays show it moves after a referee signal. That being said, replay clearly shows one second was on the clock at the time of the ref signal but that is cutting it too close.
That's true, but don't you think the addtional time taken was a result of seeing if he had caught the ball while the defender rolled off of him? It may have been more obvious(and sooner) if the ball had just hit the ground. Even so, I think review would have shown more time on the clock if the ball had been dropped. A valid point was made before about too much time being left on the clock. Had that happened, and Auburn scored, the same people would be crying for Miles' head because he left too much time on the clock. I don't think Miles would get credit regardless of his actions because this was a close game and everyone will be able to show how it was merely luck. Also something to consider. Do we really know the procedure for bringing plays in to the offense? And if it remains the same throughout the game? Seems we had some time issues with the coaching staff earlier, and is Miles the only one that takes the hit for that? Didn't our OC call that play? Did Miles really just take too long to approve it? Is that even the process? Really hard to say, but you sure don't hear the OC being brought up in this discussion, only Miles.
