Ed Orgeron implies LSU players weren't having fun playing for Les Miles
Reading between the lines of LSU interim coach Ed Orgeron’s comments Wednesday, the Tigers quit on former coach Les Miles.
Nobody denies the fact that Miles has been a terrific coach and will always be a fantastic person, but the Bayou Bengals were no longer listening to his message. It was time for some fresh blood to be pumped into Baton Rouge.
Though Miles went 114-34 in 11-plus years at LSU and won the program’s third national title in 2007, he failed to embrace the ever-changing nature of college football. His student-body-right ground game was no longer sufficient in today’s points-happy environment, and his aerial attack had become an embarrassment.
Miles will always be a memorable figure in Tigers history, but it was long past time for this squad to evolve.
RELATED: Who should LSU hire to replace Les Miles?
“It was a tough week for our players saying goodbye to Coach Miles,” Orgeron said Wednesday on the SEC’s weekly coaches teleconference. “He’s a great man with a great career that he had here at LSU. He loved the state of Louisiana. He’s a great man, but we’re starting a new season.”
Orgeron has been through this before, having coached USC on an interim basis in 2013 following the firing of Lane Kiffin.
Despite being No. 5 in the preseason AP Poll and having expectations to compete for the College Football Playoff, the Tigers are 2-2 and unranked. The same one-dimensional team we saw last year is the one we see this year.
Specifically, the entire scheme revolves around the otherworldly talent of tailback Leonard Fournette (below). If he’s not single-handedly carrying the Bayou Bengals into the end zone, they simply have nowhere to turn offensively. The quarterback change from Brandon Harris to Danny Etling was a band-aid at best.
Credit: John Reed-USA TODAY Sports
LSU’s opponent in Week 5, Missouri, is the No. 1 passing offense in the SEC with an average of 391.3 yards per game.
“I would expect our team to come and play very emotional, play with a lot of energy, make plays,” Orgeron said. “Obviously, there will be some tough spots in the game that we’ll have to push through, but I want to see them play as a team. It’s not about special teams. It’s not about offense. It’s not about defense. One team, one heartbeat.”
With their playoff hopes dashed before the calendar flipped to October, playing for Miles had become a grind.
The power brokers in Baton Rouge made a push to eject Miles toward the end of last season, but he answered a three-game losing streak with a win over Texas A&M in the home finale and a blowout of Texas Tech in the Texas Bowl.
Throughout the offseason, Miles promised change. Fournette right, Fournette left, Fournette up the middle — that wasn’t sustainable anymore. But Harris looked like the same flawed QB, probably because he was operating the same flawed system. Any belief in a new-and-improved passing attack was quickly erased.
Orgeron implied that the Bayou Bengals were being worked too hard under Miles and simply not enjoying themselves anymore.
“Guys have got to want to come to practice and have some fun,” he said. “If you’ve been to our practice the last couple days, guys are having fun. They’re running around with a lot of energy. I know it’s new now, but we’re preparing to have a great game on Saturday.”
LSU is dead last in the conference throwing the ball by a wide margin, averaging a paltry 147.8 yards per game.
Compounding the Tigers’ woes is the health of Fournette, who missed one game and hasn’t been able to finish two others due to an ankle injury. Orgeron said the All-American will be “a game-time decision” to play.
Credit: John Reed-USA TODAY Sports
That means even more pressure could be put on Etling (above), the Purdue transfer who unseated Harris in Week 2. While he’s done a better job preventing turnovers, his yards-per-attempt average of 6.1 isn’t much more productive than Harris (5.6). With receivers like Malachi Dupre and Travin Dural, more big plays should be available.
Orgeron was adamant that the Tigers will do things differently on offense, but fans shouldn’t expect wholesale changes overnight.
“You can’t change this system in one week, so the guys are doing the best that they can, tweaking things that we think can be better, and eventually we’re going to get to the system that we want,” he said. “You’ll see a couple of things different, but we have to keep the same terminology, keep the same system because that’s what our young men know, and just tweak what we need to tweak.”
Most important, this is a Bayou Bengals ballclub that needs to come together. Fading confidence in Miles apparently split it apart.
RELATED: Tom Herman more realistic than Jimbo Fisher
In terms of pure talent, LSU can stack up with anyone. There are blue-chip players at every position. The NFL is littered with former Tigers, including some of the game’s brightest stars like Odell Beckham Jr. and Tyrann Mathieu.
Nevertheless, coaching still matters. It takes more than signing four- and five-star recruits every February to be a national power. Miles kept doing the same things and expecting the same results. Meanwhile, Alabama coach Nick Saban continues to adapt. It’s no coincidence that he’s beaten the Bayou Bengals five straight.
Orgeron might not be the coach LSU needs long term, but he’s the coach it needs right now. He’s charged with fixing a fractured program.
“At LSU, you’re a very talented team,” he said. “But we need to perform as one heartbeat.”
John Crist is the senior writer for Saturday Down South, a member of the FWAA and a voter for the Heisman Trophy. Send him an e-mail, like him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter.
