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LSU Tigers

Is 2014 Les Miles’ best coaching performance?

Brett Weisband

By Brett Weisband

Published:

A little more than a month ago, on Oct. 4, LSU’s season was over. The Tigers spent an evening getting thumped on the Plains of Auburn by the SEC West’s other Tigers. The 41-7 loss, the worst of Les Miles’ time in Baton Rouge, was a clear sign that 2014 was a throwaway season meant for rebuilding.

As Lee Corso might say, “Not so fast, my friend.” Instead of writing the season off, Miles has turned this Tigers team around for perhaps the best coaching job of his career. After that whitewashing on the Plains, few expected LSU to knock off one top-5 team and come within seconds of defeating another.

Here we are, though. After talk of an 0-8 SEC record, Miles has the Tigers at 3-3 in the harder division of the best conference in football. He’s done it while relying heavily on inexperienced players, which has been LSU’s main flaw all season. As always, the Tigers are loaded with talent. But as pointed out early in the year, that talent is unseasoned as of yet thanks to a mass exodus of players to the NFL over the last two years.

How young is this LSU team? Through 10 games, 17 true freshman have seen playing time. The starting quarterback, Anthony Jennings, is a true sophomore, while his leading receiver, Travin Dural, is a redshirt sophomore who had 7 catches coming into the year, and freshman Leonard Fournette has been the team’s top ball carrier.

On defense, LSU had started two sophomores at cornerback, Tre’Davious White and Rashard Robinson, until Robinson’s recent indefinite suspension. True freshman Davon Godchaux saw some starts at defensive tackle in the wake of injury and depth issues, and fellow freshman Jamal Adams has provided a spark at safety after another sophomore, Dwayne Thomas, suffered a season-ending injury.

Not only is LSU’s young talent playing, they’re producing. Freshman have scored 19 of the team’s 40 touchdowns on the year. Fournette has led the team in rushing in eight of the 10 games this season while tying for the team touchdown lead. Kendell Beckwith, a sophomore who took over at middle linebacker during the Auburn loss, has surged to third on the team in tackles.

Miles has long been known as the type of coach to drum up love and respect from his players. For Miles’ birthday on Monday, numerous players took to social media to wish the best to the Mad Hatter.

When Miles’ mother passed away 24 hours before the Ole Miss game, a dramatic 10-7 upset, the Tigers rallied around their coach. He met with his team on Friday night, reportedly breaking into tears in front the players, inspiring even more confidence in his team while letting them know he was there for them.

“He always has our back,” Beckwith told WWWLTV in Baton Rouge after the emotional Friday night meeting.

Miles is getting the most of his players while doing things decidedly his way. Jennings, whom Miles has steadfastly stuck by as his starter under center for nine games this season, isn’t completing even half of his passes. Miles and Cam Cameron still dial up a fair number of shots downfield — see the four consecutive passes in overtime against Alabama for proof that they’re not afraid to throw it — but the Tigers have doubled down on their running game.

The Tigers are running it on more than 69 percent of their offensive plays, daring teams to stop it (and most haven’t even come close since the Auburn game). They’re playing trademark LSU defense, slugging it out with teams in an old-school manner befitting Miles’ reputation.

LSU is no longer an SEC West or playoff contender, just another very good SEC team seeking a respectable bowl bid. With the way the season was shaping up at the start of October, that’s a remarkable feat. LSU is still prone to the mistakes that come with inexperience, as they showed when they broke down in the final moments against Alabama, but that’s a huge leap forward for a team that didn’t appear capable of a winning record a month ago.

The Tigers have already clinched a record above .500 and have a chance at a 9-win regular season. At most schools, using a year to lay the foundation for the future could mean a handful of losses or worse. Miles has proven that even given tough circumstances, he’s capable of coaxing far more than that out of his team.

Brett Weisband

A former freelance journalist from Philadelphia, Brett has made the trek down to SEC country to cover the greatest conference in college football.

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