Kick Six Index: Assessing Les Miles and LSU's game-winner that wasn't

Each week, we take a look at the weekend’s biggest moment in SEC football and analyze its overall significance according to the following criteria: The uniqueness and excitement of the moment itself, the stakes involved/overall impact of the play and the degree to which the college football world reacted.

This Week’s Biggest Moment

The final second of Saturday evening’s LSU at Auburn game found us where we’ve been with Les Miles so many times before. The clock was ticking down, and LSU was one play from a victory.

Credit: John Reed-USA TODAY Sports

This is where the man known as “The Hat” makes his money — excuse me, made his money. And he’s made lots of money. Four seasons at Oklahoma State, and in his 12th at LSU. Coming into Saturday night, a 142-54 record, 114-33 at LSU. In those 11 prior LSU seasons, seven included 10 or more wins — two involved trips to the BCS national championship game, one a win (2007 vs. Ohio State) and one a loss (2011 vs. Alabama).

It was that Alabama game that seemed to change Miles’ fortunes.

Before that loss, he was wacky, but he was so bizarrely effective that he and Nick Saban (who of course preceded Miles at LSU) were No. 1 and No. 1A in the college coaching roster. Nobody was better than The Hat in chaotic end game situations.

Whether it was running fake field goals (Florida 2010), throwing downfield passes as the game clock ticked away (Auburn 2007), hitting on an insane number of fourth downs (Florida 2007), or catching the opposing defense with 13 players on the field (Tennessee 2010), it was how Miles lived.

In a world of the most conservative game planners in the world, Miles was fresh air. He’d chew a little grass, dial up something insane, and then look like a genius when it worked.

Until it didn’t. Saban took the wind out of Miles’ sails when he beat him for 2011 title in a game where LSU’s offense looked absolutely pitiful. It has been uneven since. In 2013, Miles brought in offensive coordinator Cam Cameron, who is 19-52 as a head coach in college and the NFL, but somehow gets people to hire him for football related jobs anyway.

Saturday night, with 2-1 LSU trailing Auburn 18-13, Miles’ team took over at their own 25 with 2:56 to play. In the most important drive of the LSU season, Cameron decided to hand the ball to Leonard Fournette exactly zero times.

Danny Etling, a serviceable passer, instead threw 10 passes, was sacked once, and ran the ball twice. With the clock running down, Etling took a snap from the Auburn 10 and fired a pass to receiver Travin Dural for a first down at the Auburn 2. One second remained on the clock, and LSU had no timeouts, but the clock would temporarily stop for the first down.

One second remained.

But wait — there was a flag on the play. LSU was called for an illegal shift, which moved the ball back to the Auburn 15.

As chaos again took hold, the official indicated that the clock would start on his signal. LSU quickly lined up as the official spotted the ball. The ball was set, the clock started, and LSU snapped the ball. Etling dropped back and with the pass rush coming in, he stepped forward — actually about a yard beyond the line of scrimmage — and fired one last pass into the right corner of the LSU end zone, where receiver D.J. Chark answered his prayer with a tiptoe grab. LSU had done it again, and The Hat had won another must-win.

Credit: John Reed-USA TODAY Sports

Except not. The officials reviewed the play and correctly concluded that the game clock had run to zero seconds before LSU had snapped the ball. And it wasn’t Miles, but Auburn coach Gus Malzahn who picked up an unlikely skin-of-his-teeth victory, one which might just save his job.

But another LSU offensive implosion in spite of the presence of the most underutilized star in college football wasn’t the story. Instead the story was the final bad luck turn for The Hat, as Miles was fired by LSU on Sunday.

Maybe Saturday’s late-game heartbreak is a story about unrealistic expectations, about how averaging 10 wins a year isn’t enough at some schools in some conferences. For anybody who remembers the 1980s and 1990s and has seen Mike Archer, Gerry DiNardo, and Curley Hallman patrol the LSU sidelines, they know that Tiger greatness is not guaranteed.

Or maybe it’s a story about stubbornness. Miles was nearly fired at the end of a 9-3 2015 season, but kept his job after a win over Texas A&M to close the year. But the leash was short, and the same old vanilla offense (163 passing yards per game in 2014 and 180 in 2015) wasn’t going to cut it. But he kept Cameron, continued to rely on Brandon Harris and now Etling for reasons known only to God, Cameron, and maybe Miles.

Or it could just be a story about the way that the game passes everyone by, sooner or later. Miles is 62, and if he wants another shot, he’ll have it. And if he doesn’t, he’ll leave us everybody who loves SEC football with some amazing memories.

But on its most basic level, it’s a story about living dangerously. Watching Miles coach a close game in his heyday was like watching someone insane play blackjack. You appreciated the sheer gutsiness and the victories, but when you keep hitting on 18, sooner or later, you bust. Saturday night, The Hat busted. And his last deal’s gone down. At least the last deal at LSU.

The Uniqueness of the Moment

Just another routine miracle LSU finish … until it wasn’t. The game-winning score being called back for time will be unforgettable, wherever LSU’s fortunes (and Auburn’s for that matter) end up. Kirk Herbstreit asked ESPN’s viewers, “Have you ever seen such a swing of emotions?” You probably haven’t seen many bigger.

Score: 9 of 10

The Stakes Involved

The game got one head coach fired and might have prevented another from meeting the same fate. Miles has been at LSU since 2005, won a national title and a pair of SEC titles, and was consistently among the most respected coaches in the game.

In terms of the seasons of the respective programs, both LSU and Auburn seem destined for middle-to-bottom of SEC status, with a 6-8 win season looking likely on both sides. But this game made its mark in the impacts on the sidelines, and thus the future of the league.

Score: 8 of 10

The Fan Reaction

I’m sorry, but the Internet exploded twice — first with the winning play that wasn’t a winning play, and then again with the firing of Miles. There are strong opinions all over the place on this one, and whether you fault Miles, the Tiger administration, both, or neither, chances are that you are pretty fired up about this story.

Score: 10 of 10

Overall Final Score: 27/30

Previous 2016 Kick Six editions:

Week 1: LSU picked off late

Week 2: Arkansas makes two big plays late

Week 3: Eason’s first huge UGA moment