Les Miles Out; Jimbo Fisher In?

In his first season, back in 2012, the Rebels dropped three straight SEC games to open the month-including a 41-35 loss to LSU in Baton Rouge.

“I’m a nonfactor”, Miles said.

LSU closes the regular season against Texas A&M (8-3, 4-3 SEC) at 6:30 p.m. Saturday in Tiger Stadium on the SEC Network.

Saturday’s embarrassing 38-17 loss at Ole Miss and next weekend’s game against Texas A&M appeared to be, for all intents and purposes, a referendum on Miles’ tenure at LSU.

Leonard Fournette led the way for LSU (7-3, 4-3) finishing with 25 carries for 110 yards. With this in mind how could I possibly say that Miles deserves to remain at the helm?

LSU made it 24-7 off Brandon Harris touchdown pass to Tyron Johnson.

If Miles is fired before December 31, he gets $15 million. “Whatever I know about it, absolutely”. He was at the game Saturday but did not speak to reporters.

“You guys decided that it was a good time to do it”, Miles said of stories written about his job status last week. “And so I figured, what the heck?” But with the floor crumbling beneath him and being handed his third loss in a row, Miles should be on his way out as head coach.

Ole Miss found itself in desperate need of a score to keep the Tigers off-balance, and quarterback Chad Kelly was just the man for the job.

Christian Russell benefited from a Mike Hilton breakup and picked off a Harris pass four minutes later and returned it 37 yards to the LSU 11-yard line, setting up a Kelly to Treadwell 11-yard TD pass at the 3:24 mark, pushing the score to 24-0.

Miles, an offensive-minded coach who has a strong influence on that unit, admitted afterward that his offense needs to be “adapted, fixed and adjusted”. “We were out of sync”. “Not how we practice every day certainly”.

10 in the AP Top 25, No. 9 in the coaches poll) and Mississippi State (No. 23, No. 22) are the lone other ranked teams in the Southeastern Conference. They have lost all three by double-digit margins, something that hasn’t happen in almost 20 years.

Who won? Well, Treadwell caught four passes for 58 yards, including a touchdown. And his 108 yards against the Rebels pushed him past Terry Robiskie (1973-76) and Joseph Addai (2001-05) for fifth place on LSU’s career rushing yards list with 2,616 yards. It was, at least in this columnist’s opinion, Ole Miss’ most solid overall team outing of the season.

“I give all the glory to God and my teammates”, said Kelly, who became the single season touchdown leader in school history (34), eclipsing Eli Manning’s 32 in 2001. “You’d like to think that the defense would respond and play well, but that wasn’t today”.

Trent Domingue had a chance to tie it later in the first, but missed a 27 yard attempt, his first of the season.

LSU Tigers offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher answers questions for the media after the game against the Oklahoma Sooners in the Allstate Sugar Bowl Game at the Louisiana Superdome. If both teams show up with their A-games, Ole Miss is superior – not by much, but by enough.

Advertisement

An assortment of early penalties, continued shaky play on offense and a handful of big plays by the opposing offense caused Miles’ Tigers to trail 24-0 in the first half before eventually falling 38-17. Chad Kelly and the Rebels offense were rolling while Leonard Fournette, Brandon Harris, and the LSU offense struggled to do anything against Robert Nkemdiche and company on the Ole Miss defense.