When the LSU Tigers sit down to examine the tape from their 34-29 loss to Mississippi State, which dropped them nine and 10 spots in the two major polls, there won’t be much to smile about. To put it simply, the Tigers got beat up all over the field. What Les Miles can at least be pleased with is his own decision to go for it on fourth-and-goal early in the game.

Late in the first quarter, LSU had worked the ball down inside the Bulldogs’ two-yard line following a nifty running back pass from Terrence Magee to Malachi Dupre and a pass interference call on a throw to Travin Dural. Three times, offensive coordinator Cam Cameron dialed up power running plays, and three times the Bulldogs built a wall at the goal line and slammed the gates shut. (Worth noting: one of those calls was a fullback dive to Darrel Williams, a play that we’ve noted here and had worked swimmingly up to that point.)

After that third down stuff, Miles could be seen immediately barking into his headset to go for it. Many conservative football minds, fans and coaches alike, would say, “Take the points.” Miles, as we know, is not conservative. The play, an Anthony Jennings run around the right side of the line, fell short, but that doesn’t mean the call was the wrong one.

The decision to try to punch the ball in from that close has two likely outcomes: either the offensive team scores, or the defensive team takes over with their backs pressed up against their own goal line. When the Tigers couldn’t score, Mississippi State got the ball two yards away from a safety. When a defense is playing as well as LSU had been for two and a half weeks, that doesn’t seem like a bad scenario. Of course, LSU’s defense couldn’t hold, giving up three straight plays of 20 yards or more and allowing the Bulldogs to go 98 yards while taking just 1:21 off the clock.

If the Tigers had converted that fourth down into a score, it would have changed the tone of the game, putting some juice into an offense that had been sluggish for the better part of two weeks. The play call wasn’t executed, but Miles nailed the decision.