LSU head coach Les Miles accepted blame for the Tigers’ collapse last Saturday against Ole Miss, although it appears that he isn’t accepting blame for everything.
“As part of the process, I evaluate everything we do — players and coaches,” Miles continued. “I’m part of that process. I’m no different than anybody in this team room. I mismanaged the back end of the Ole Miss game.
“I’m responsible. I’m the head coach.”
The signal-caller on the sidelines (graduate assistant John Dunn) told Jefferson to spike the ball.
“To try to get the ball snapped with one second was certainly our greatest desire,” Miles said. “There was a possibility of Ole Miss having 12 men on defense. That came down from the press box.
Here’s the problem: Miles was the one that was signaling for Jefferson to spike the clock, as evidence by the video below.
Miles wants to take blame for what happened and he should, because that’s what head coaches do. But why did he not take blame for motioning to Jefferson to stop the clock? Jefferson says that the signal-caller told him to spike the ball and maybe he did, but Miles was clearly doing the motion too, yet he says he doesn’t know who told the quarterback to spike the clock.
At the end of the day, this will go down as just a massive screw up by all parties involved and LSU will just have to move on and get over it. It was just a bad ending in a bad loss, but I find it interesting that Miles won’t admit that he too was motioning for Jefferson to stop the clock. If he’s going to accept blame for the loss, he might as well go the whole nine yards and admit that he screwed up by listening to the press box and giving Jefferson the spike motion too.
Following LSU’s 25-23 loss to Ole Miss on Saturday in which Tigers quarterback Jordan Jefferson spiked the ball with :01 left remaining, Les Miles told the media that he didn’t know who instructed his signal caller to “clock” the ball.
Apparently Miles is either a liar or doesn’t have a real good memory, because it was him (thanks to SPORTSbyBROOKS.com for the video link):
This is damning evidence for Miles on several levels. Not only did he lie about what happened, but he also completely threw Jefferson under the bus by telling the media he didn’t know who told him to spike the ball.
Miles should have owned up to the mistake (maybe he thought there was more time on the clock when he was doing the gesture?) afterwards and took his medicine then. Now he’s going to feel the wrath of not only lying about the situation, but he also stands to lose some credibility with his players and the program.
Posted by Christopher Glotfelty (11/22/2009 @ 12:30 pm)
After Stanford failed to top Cal earlier in the evening, Jermiah Masoli provided some late-game heroics for his Oregon Ducks. In double overtime, Masoli took the snap at the Arizona Wildcats’ 1-yard line and ran the ball in for a touchdown. The Ducks will now face Oregon St. next week to see which team advances to the Rose Bowl.
The Rose Bowl race is no longer complicated: The winner of Oregon (7-1) versus Oregon State (6-2) on Dec. 3 (a Thursday) in the most important Civil War ever played will earn the Pac-10′s automatic bid to Pasadena.
Arizona, the only Pac-10 or Big Ten Conference team never to play in the Rose Bowl, is still that team after a wrenching defeat pinned a third league loss on the Wildcats. Arizona had already succumbed this season, to Washington, on a game-winning touchdown that deflected off a receiver’s foot.
What else could bounce off something to torture Arizona?
How about Oregon’s kicker, Morgan Flint, tying the score, 24-24, in the fourth quarter with a 43-yard field goal that deflected in off the crossbar?
Assuming the Ducks win their all-state showdown, they’ll finish the season with a record of 10-2. They would then meet the Ohio State Buckeyes, another 10-2 team ranked in the top 10, in the Rose Bowl. We’ll see how the other Bowl games take shape, but this one at least sounds appealing.
I thought this week in college football was going to be a massive dud. However, after UConn’s emotional victory over Notre Dame and now this thrilling finish in Oxford, I’ve been proven wrong.
Although the majority of the game was evenly matched, people are simply going to focus on the Tigers’ final drive. Ole Miss came out with a contagious passion, displaying confidence on both ends of the field. The Rebels held LSU to five plays and nine yards in the first quarter — pretty impressive. Still, LSU capitalized on key opportunities, particularly after a blocked field goal which Patrick Peterson returned for a 53-yard touchdown. Despite their underwhelming start, LSU had a slight lead over their opponents at the half: 17-15.
Before this game, LSU was 38-5 when leading at the half under coach Les Miles. That’s strange, because what followed was a downright sloppy performance by the Tigers’ defense. Dexter McCluster — one of the most exciting players to watch in all of college football — embarrassed the Tigers’ front seven, exposing its weaknesses on many of his 24 carries. Rebels quarterback Jevan Snead had an solid game, but it was McCluster who actually threw his team’s sole touchdown, finding Shay Hodge in the fourth.
With less than two minutes left in the game, it looked as though Ole Miss had this one in the bag. However, LSU quarterback Jordan Jefferson has shown essential composure under pressure. With the clock winding down, he hit Rueben Randle for a 25-yard touchdown pass. The score was 25-23 in favor of Ole Miss, so the Tigers went for the two-point conversion. They failed, but the Tigers weren’t ready to quit.
In his deliberate coaching style, Les Miles immediately ordered an onside kick. Somehow sneaking by McCluster, the Tigers’ Brandon LaFell recovered the ball. Jefferson then connected with LaFell for a 26-yard reception. For a brief moment, I thought LSU was going to pull through. Three plays later it was fourth-and-26 from the Ole Miss 48. Only nine seconds remained. What, only nine seconds? Where did all the time go? Well, LSU wasted 17 seconds after their third down before calling a time out. The stadium held its breath as Jefferson threw downfield to Terrance Toliver. Surrounded by Rebels, Toliver made a remarkable catch at the Rebels’ six-yard line. Here comes the Tigers’ field goal team to win the game. Wait, never mind. With the clock stopped on the one second mark for the referees to reset the chains, Les Miles froze. What happened to that readiness? His field goal team never stepped on the field. Instead, Jefferson attempted to spike the ball. Blah. The clock ran out and Ole Miss had defeated LSU at home for the first time in eleven years.
Posted by Christopher Glotfelty (11/21/2009 @ 5:23 pm)
At least the Wolverines managed to keep the Buckeyes in check for the first half. Nevertheless, countless mistakes led to their downfall in front of their fans in Ann Arbor.
Michigan had given up at least 400 yards per game all season, so they were facing a huge challenge against a high-scoring Buckeyes team. Although they’ve done well against the pass, their front seven has been weak at best. That being said, Jim Tressell wisely had his team run the ball throughout the game. Terrelle Pryor’s arm has improved, but nobody expected him to throw into Michigan’s pass coverage. Thus, Pryor only passed for 67 yards, but his Buckeyes rushed for 251 yards total, including 74 of his own.
Without considering Ohio State’s proficient running game, there is no way Michigan is going to beat their rivals when their quarterback, Tate Forcier, is tossing four interceptions. From the outset, things didn’t look good for the Wolverines. During Michigan’s first drive, Forcier fumbled the ball outside of his own end zone, providing an easy touchdown for the Buckeyes’ Cameron Heyward. For all his shortcomings, the freshman quarterback did throw for 226 yards against an intimidating Buckeyes defense, so there’s promise.
In the third quarter, Pryor connected with Daniel Herron on a beautifully constructed play for a 12-yard touchdown. That brought the score to 21-10, giving the Buckeyes a large enough lead to focus on containing the Wolverines’ offense.
In defeating Michigan for the sixth year in a row, the Buckeyes also clinched an outright Big Ten championship. They will head into the Rose Bowl on a five-game winning streak. With guys like Kurt Coleman, Brandon Saine, and Herron stepping up, Ohio State will have a great chance in their BCS game. Their losses to USC and Purdue earlier this season must have never happened.
USC’s Pete Carroll says he’s over Stanford head coach John Harbaugh going for two when the Cardinal were already up 48-21 in the second half of their victory over the Trojans last Saturday. But Carroll also said that he wouldn’t forget about the play either.
MASON: What do you think, now a couple of days removed, of Harbaugh going for the two-point conversion?
CARROLL: Well, really, even since the time that it happened, you know, I haven’t bothered with it, and I know everybody else has and taken a lot of time to kinda discuss it and all. I think, you know, it is what you think it is, you know, it’s a statement that you can take away that maybe they were trying to accomplish something that seems out of the ordinary, you know, I don’t really care, to tell you the truth, it doesn’t matter.
And when you look at it like, uh, they’re ahead in the game and they’re in command of it, they really get to do whatever they want to do, and it doesn’t bother me to worry about it anymore, you know what I mean? Jim came out and said what he wanted to say, you know, a couple different times about it and, you know, to me it’s dropped, I don’t care.
Will I forget it? No, I’m not forgetting it. But uh, you know, to me, it’s in the past.
What’s funny is that everyone is concentrating on how Stanford went for two to make a statement to USC, but what Carroll and everyone needs to focus on is that the Cardinal whipped the Trojans’ ass for four quarters. It wasn’t just one play; Stanford owned USC on the Trojans’ home field for 60 minutes. That’s the bigger deal.
So Carroll truly does need to forget about the one play (albeit, an embarrassing play) and concentrate on what has happened this year to his program. To hell with the two-point conversation: How does that once stout USC defense allow 36 (Oregon State), 47 (Oregon) and 55 (Stanford) points over the course of a four game span?
Without quarterback Zac Robinson (concussion), No. 12 Oklahoma State was almost victims of the first big upset of Week 12.
The Cowboys needed a fourth quarter touchdown reception by Justin Blackmon from Brandon Weeden and two big defensive stops to beat Colorado, 31-28 on Thursday night.
Turnovers almost doomed OK State. They lost three fumbles on the night (two on muffed punts) and junior quarterback Alex Cate was also intercepted to give the Buffalos scoring opportunities the entire night.
Cate struggled to make an impact while starting in place of the injured Robinson. In fact, he didn’t complete a pass and finished 0-for-9 with the one interception. The sophomore Weeden had to come in and rescue the sputtering Cowboy offense, which he successfully did by completing 10-of-15 passes for 168 yards and two touchdowns.
Of course, OK State’s offense got plenty of production out of senior running back Keith Toston, who compiled 170 yards with one touchdown on 30 carries. On the night, the Cowboys rushed for 232 yards and held Colorado to just 13 yards on the ground.
With this win, Oklahoma State keeps its slim hopes alive in the Big 12 South. The Cowboys would need to beat Oklahoma next week and have Texas (6-0) lose both its remaining games in order to leapfrog the Longhorns in the standings. But chances are Texas won’t slip up against a struggling Kansas, which has lost five in a row and whose head coach is facing allegations of player abuse.
Stanford head coach Jim Harbaugh recently was asked on Sirius XM’s “Mad Dog Radio” if he would be interested in coaching at Michigan if things didn’t work out with current Wolverine coach Rich Rodriguez.
Host Bruce Murray: “You are a hot prospect now in college football. You are going to be sought after. Do you have outs to go to other jobs should they present themselves in your contract?”
Jim Harbaugh: “Well, I love Stanford and I love the football players here and the coaches here. I’m not going to specifically discuss my contract but I hope to have the honor of coaching here, Bruce, for a very long time.”
Murray: “But you’ve heard the rumors and I’m not saying that you would entertain it. You know if something doesn’t work out with Rich Rodriguez at Michigan, as an alum you’re going to be called by them … ”
Harbaugh: “Let me just stop you right there, Bruce. This is big game week. This is Cal week, and as you would understand, all my focus and our focus has to be on that. So if we’re going to keep going into this I’ve got other things that are more pressing. … This week is just one of those weeks where the focus really has to be on the game we’ve got coming up.”
Good for Harbaugh for not getting roped into saying something that he would probably regret later. He didn’t come out and say that he wouldn’t coach at Michigan; instead he kept the focus on Stanford and its upcoming battle with Cal this Saturday. It wouldn’t be fair to his players or his fellow coaches if he stoked the Michigan-head coaching flames three days before a big game against a key rival. Furthermore, it would be disrespectful to Rodriguez for Harbaugh to talk about a job that isn’t his.
I know he has ties to Michigan because he played there, but I hope the powers at be put together a fair extension so that he can stay at Stanford. They were the ones to give him his first shot and it would be nice to see a college football head coach show some loyalty once in awhile (although one could argue that he has loyalties to Michigan, too).
Last week was bitter sweet as I went 4-0 straight up but just 1-3 against the spread. Keep in mind that I try to only pick top 25 games, so they’re much, much harder to predict. Like, much harder. (Or at least that’s my excuse anyway.)
No. 8 LSU at Mississippi, 3:30PM ET
Both of these SEC teams will be looking to finish the 2009 season strong when they square off this Saturday in Oxford. The Rebels snapped a six-game losing streak to the Tigers last season but they haven’t won at home in his series since 1998. The public seems high on Ole Miss after the Rebs hammered Tennessee last Saturday, but keep in mind that the Vols were in the midst of some turmoil after three of their players were arrested for attempted armed robbery last week. Dexter McCluster went off on Tennessee for 282 yards and four touchdowns, but he’ll have a hard time repeating that effort against a stout LSU front seven. Something tells me that Les Miles’ team is still pissed off about what happened two weeks again in Tuscaloosa and will play this week with passion. I see a small upset for the Tigers and an outright win. Odds: Ole Miss –4.5. Prediction: LSU 20, Ole Miss 17.
No. 25 California at No. 17 Stanford, 7:30PM ET
Stanford is playing as well as anyone in the nation right now. The Cardinal have scored 106 points combined against Oregon and USC the past two weeks and senior running back Toby Gerhart has almost been unstoppable. Without running back Jahvid Best, Cal squeaked by Arizona last week, 24-16. With Best sidelined again this Saturday, many expect Stanford to roll but don’t forget that Cal has the 19th best run defense in the nation and is capable of containing Gerhart and keeping things close. Quarterback Kevin Riley might be able to take advantage of a Stanford secondary that has been inconsistent this season, although without the threat of a running game the Bears’ offense might become too one-dimensional in the second half. I think Stanford will pull out the victory but this game will be closer than people think. Odds: Stanford –7.5. Prediction: Stanford 35, Cal 31.
SI.com’s Stewart Mandel compiled his projections for all 34 bowl matchups and this is how things shook out in the BCS Bowls:
BCS Championship: Alabama vs. Texas Orange: Georgia Tech vs. TCU Fiesta: Iowa vs. Boise State Sugar: Florida vs. Pittsburgh Rose: Ohio State vs. Oregon
Is it just me or are those some pretty lousy matchups outside of the BCS title game (Colt McCoy vs. ‘Bama’s defense is intriguing, I don’t care what anyone says)? I’m not saying that those teams aren’t deserving of those bowls, but I’m not entirely sure I’d like to see Iowa play Boise in one of the “big” bowls.
That said, a Georgia Tech-TCU matchup would be intriguing because I would love to see the Horned Frogs try and defense the Jackets’ potent triple-option. TCU has one of the fastest and most aggressive defenses in the nation and it would be a thrill to watch them try and contain Jonathan Dwyer for four quarters.
Something tells me an Ohio State-Oregon matchup wouldn’t be that bad either outside of the fact that the Buckeyes always lay duds in bowl games. OSU has a solid defense, although Jeremiah Masoli and company might tear them to pieces.
Perhaps the most interesting takeaway from Mandel’s projections (outside of the fact that he has ‘Bama beating Florida in the SEC Championship Game, that is) is that he predicts Pittsburgh to beat Cincinnati in two weeks. The Bearcats can light up a scoreboard, but teams that can run straight at their defense have had success and the Panthers might be able to do that when the two teams square off next Saturday for the top spot in the Big East.’
For those of you who are like me that would rather see a playoff system determine the champion in college football, check out John Paulsen’s breakdown of how a postseason would look like this season.
