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Louisiana State University

Les Miles gets his biggest upset victory, and it is well-earned

George Schroeder
USA TODAY Sports
LSU coach Les Miles acknowledges the Tiger Stadium crowd before headling into he locker room for what would be his final kickoff in Baton Rouge.

He rode off the field on his players’ shoulders, the crowd chanting his name: “Keep Les Miles! Keep Les Miles!”

And then instead of an emotional farewell for Les Miles, we got a big surprise.

There wasn’t anything special about LSU’s 19-7 win against Texas A&M on Saturday. It was a slog by mediocre teams. It absolutely was not the kind of emphatic statement that would have indicated LSU was ready to challenge Alabama again for SEC supremacy — which of course is what all of this has been about, the reason Miles was about to be unceremoniously dumped.

But somehow sanity prevailed in Baton Rouge.

Miles isn’t going anywhere. The coach with the highest winning percentage in school history — the guy with the quirky play calls and press conferences, but also a national title and a run of success unmatched in school history — is keeping his job, as he should.

It’s the biggest upset Miles has ever pulled off.

It’s pretty clear the powers that be were ready to pay Miles up to $15 million to be rid of him, and then to pay more to lure Jimbo Fisher from Florida State. Though it was never certain how close Fisher was to leaving, but with all the attention in the past few days, the pressure on him to stay in Tallahassee surely increased.

With reports Saturday afternoon that Fisher had told the Florida State president he wasn’t going anywhere, Miles’ status probably grew a little more secure. LSU could fire him, but it better have a home-run hire lined up. If it wasn’t Fisher, who would it be?

And so Miles survives to coach again in Tiger Stadium.

Between now and 2016, he would be wise to revamp his offensive philosophy. With Leonard Fournette returning, Miles doesn’t need to get wacky. But it’s time to go hire an offensive coordinator who can bring in a consistent, effective passing game and who can develop quarterbacks (the model would be what Bob Stoops did in hiring Lincoln Riley last offseason, and see how that’s worked out for Oklahoma).

That would be the shrewd play by Miles, though in the post-game news conference Saturday night, even as he said he would consider staff changes, he sounded lukewarm on the idea. He should consider it, though, because the real issue hasn’t changed:

He always has been and will continue to be measured against Nick Saban, his predecessor. It’s not a good comparison.

LSU fans show their support for Miles outside Tiger Stadium prior to kickoff Saturday.

Since beating Alabama 9-6 in overtime in Tuscaloosa in 2011, the Tigers are 0-5 against the Crimson Tide (which to LSU fans, means against Saban), including the rematch later that year in the BCS national championship. And since then, even as Alabama has continued it run near the top of college football and mostly atop the SEC West, LSU has clearly slipped. In Miles’ first seven seasons through 2011, LSU was 75-18, with a national championship in 2007 and two SEC titles. Since then, the Tigers are 35-14 and only 19-12 in SEC play.

Earlier this month, LSU was ranked No. 2 in the first College Football Playoff Top 25. But in three consecutive losses by double digits, the Tigers’ flaws were exposed, and they were familiar. Miles’ best teams were built on fast, physical defenses and powerful running games. But pedestrian quarterback play also was a consistent feature. When the run game was slowed, the Tigers often couldn’t pass their way out of trouble.

This season, that meant they couldn’t capitalize on the wondrous talents of Fournette. They couldn’t keep up with Alabama. Or Arkansas or Mississippi, for that matter — which is also part of this. It’s no longer just about Alabama, it’s that LSU has slipped to become just another team in the rugged SEC West.

But dumping Miles was always a dicey idea. Here’s a bulletin: Whenever the next coach arrives — and whoever he is — he won’t be Saban, either.

LSU students wear "11 Years" on Saturday in tribute to the 11 years Miles has been at LSU.

It’s worth nothing that in the 40 years before Saban arrived in Baton Rouge for the 2000 season, LSU won two outright SEC titles. There was a sense then that the program was a sleeping giant, and given what’s happened since, it probably was. But even as Miles has built on Saban’s foundation, he also has had plenty to do with the greatest run of success in the program’s history.

Whether he can turn this reprieve into a rebound remains to be seen. He could emerge stronger. Or this time next year, we might be talking about how his 12th season was his last. In postmodern college football, with College Football Playoff pressure and perception swinging wildly from game to game — or play to play — to coach that long anywhere is an achievement.

For now, let’s celebrate a big victory by a guy who sounded beaten down last week, and with good reason: He twisted in the wind amid all those reports that he was gone, with no statement of support — no statement of anything — from athletic director Joe Alleva or any other significant LSU official until after the game Saturday night, when Alleva said: “Les Miles is our football coach and will continue to be our football coach. … We’re going to go forward and win championships here at LSU.”

Miles didn’t know he was staying until after the game. And after this episode, perhaps Alleva and the other powerbrokers involved should be concerned about their status. As for Miles? Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised after all.

He’s well known for pulling miracle finishes out of his hat.

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