From hot seat incompetence to seat of his pants brilliance

I’m still trying to wrap my brain around LSU gaining more yardage in the second half yesterday than ‘Bama did in the entire game.

We can’t handle the truth.  Les Miles is a grass-eating genius.

… Miles downplayed his whole “Mad Hatter” image. Deep down, though, he almost seems to enjoy it.

“I think that’s overblown,” Miles said. “I promise you that it’s not in my hat. I don’t think I’ve done anything that 50 or 60 high school coaches in this state wouldn’t do. I think if you like football and have a feel for some stuff, you let it ride sometimes.”

Or a lot of times.

“When he calls something, there’s a good percentage that play is going to be there,” said LSU defensive coordinator John Chavis, whose unit held Alabama to 325 total yards. “He knows. He studies. He’s worked it.

“I’ll be honest with you. The guy’s a brilliant guy when it comes to strategy in football games.”

Random morning question

So how many schools’ fan bases are rooting for Georgia this week?

Reflections on Idaho State, now that it’s over

I didn’t sit in my usual seat yesterday, which meant that I wound up being subjected to non-stop commentary from a guy who is so disgruntled about the team (it is possible to bitch about play calling when your team is up by 48 points and playing third-stringers, I discovered) that I wondered why he’s spending money on season tickets in the first place.  I also learned that they’re selling funnel cakes, fried Oreos and fried Twinkies at the new Reed Alley concession stands, so at least I know where they can host the next State Fair.

The game itself?  Meh.  It was all you might expect and then some.  There were stretches when it looked like they were playing in slow motion.  Green and Rambo almost strolled on their long touchdown plays.

The only pregame prediction I whiffed on was Fred Munzenmaier being the rushing leader.

This should give you a good indication of the level of involvement on the day:

“Regardless of how early the fans leave and how the score looks, it’s always a blessing to play,” said Figgins, who redshirted last season following shoulder surgery and did not have a catch this year before Saturday. “Of course, people find the closer games more interesting, SEC play more interesting, but it’s good to see everybody play and have a lot of laughs on the sideline.”

Georgia (5-5) got the get-well game it expected after the heartache of an overtime loss to Florida a week earlier.

The Bulldogs moved one win away from becoming bowl-eligible, with a monster matchup at BCS No. 2 Auburn next Saturday, a game the Bulldogs had peeked ahead to already.

Asked after the game if he already had watched some film cut-ups of Auburn quarterback Cam Newton, the Heisman Trophy contender, Georgia defensive coordinator Todd Grantham said: “I noticed a little bit, yeah.”

Bulldogs coach Mark Richt mentioned Auburn unprompted just 13 seconds into his postgame news conference.

Auburn (10-0) had its own beatdown Saturday, 62-24 over Chattanooga.

“Every man on the team, I’m sure even before the clock hit zeroes, was thinking about going to Auburn and playing this game,” Richt said.

The problem with laying it on too thick

If this column is truth, what does that say about Alabama this morning?

*******************************************************************

UPDATE: “What did I tell you? This is the kind of game Les Miles almost always wins.”