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October 22, 2013
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October 22, 2013
When LSU loses a football game, its hungry fan base almost always points the finger at oft-ridiculed coach Les Miles.
In the Tigers’ latest defeat – a 27-24 loss at the hands of Ole Miss – LSU’s ninth-year headman saved the diehards the trouble.
Miles took the blame squarely on his shoulders and said he’s the reason the team lost to the Rebels.
LSU started flat, rallied late, but couldn’t close the deal in the three-point defeat that likely ends LSU’s hopes at winning the SEC Championship.
After the game, Miles said the team’s flat start is the fault of no one but himself.
“I can tell you that I did a poor job preparing this football team for playing this game,” Miles said. “There is a way I could prepare this team to put them in a better position emotionally and prepare them to play in the kind of stadium that they played in tonight. … This one is on me. I take it.”
First half turnovers are what sealed LSU’s fate against the Rebels.
The Tigers’ defense started hot, limiting the Rebels to just three first quarter points on three possessions.
But LSU couldn’t take advantage of the success, as senior quarterback Zach Mettenberger tossed interceptions on three of the team’s five first half possessions.
Turnovers alone are bad enough for any football team. But the timing of the mistakes was the real killer for LSU in Saturday’s loss.
Each of the interceptions came when the Tigers were in Ole Miss territory – one with LSU marching down the field at the Rebels’ 20-yard-line.
The mistakes stopped the Tigers from getting any first-half points – in a 10-0 halftime hole.
“I think we had a good game plan going in, but we just failed to execute,” Mettenberger said. “This game is really on me. (The interceptions) were just bad plays. They made good plays on balls and just bad plays by me. I’ve got to be smarter.”
LSU opened up its playbook in the second half and started to find offensive success against the Rebels’ defense, which was without several starters.
The Tigers scored 24 second-half points in the final 21 minutes of the game. The outburst enabled LSU to rally from a 17-0 hole to tie the game at 24 on a four-yard strike from Mettenberger to junior receiver Jarvis Landry.
But with the offense in rhythm, the Tigers’ defense couldn’t make the big plays necessary for victory.
The Rebels earned 276 yards in the second half of Saturday’s game. Most of the team’s success came on third down. The Rebels were 6-of-8 on third down in the second half, earning key first downs on sometimes third-and-long situations.
Ole Miss converted a third-and-9 and a third-and-6 on the final drive of the game – a 61-yard trek that saw the Rebels end the game with a 41-yard field goal by Andrew Ritter.
“We just weren’t coming to the right positions,” LSU safety Ronald Martin said of the team’s third down defense. “Some guys were doing their assignments, but we’ve got to get that right.”
Ole Miss quarterback Bo Wallace was the main culprit in the Rebels’ attack, completing 30-of-39 passes for 346 yards.
But Tigers’ defensive lineman Ego Ferguson said Wallace’s success was due to LSU’s inability to put consistent pressure on the Rebels’ junior.
“Getting a sack would have been a different story (for us),” Ferguson said. “We had a couple of busted coverages and they just drove the ball down.”
But it wouldn’t be an LSU loss if there wasn’t a clock management controversy surrounding Miles.
The Tigers stopped the Rebels on a third down play late in the game with approximately 30 seconds to go in the fourth quarter.
Instead of calling LSU’s final timeout at the completion of the play, Miles let the clock run down and then called the final timeout with seven ticks on the clock.
Had the coach called the timeout earlier, LSU would have had an opportunity to run a couple of offensive plays following the successful field goal try.
Miles’ explanation for the timeout didn’t quite add up to most LSU fans. He said he hesitated to make the call because he didn’t want to allow the Rebels time to get the football back.
“I could have certainly called it earlier,” Miles said. “But I wanted to get the block set up more than anything else. I would have liked to call it earlier, but in the event, I didn’t want to give them enough time to go down and score.”
With the loss, LSU is now 6-2 on the season and 3-2 in SEC play. The Tigers dropped to No. 13 in all polls after the defeat.
The Tigers will return to Tiger Stadium this weekend for a non-conference tilt with Furman.
That game will not be televised nationally. It will be offered regionally through TigerVision Pay Per View.
The LSU football team gets itself geared up prior to the start of Saturday night’s game between the Tigers and Ole Miss. LSU started the game poorly and fell into a 17-0 rut. The Tigers rallied and tied the game at 24 with just minutes to play. But the Rebels drove down the field and kicked a game-winning field goal to secure the victory.
