As reports about Miles’ job security continue to swirl, Tigers fans showered the coach with cheers before Saturday’s regular-season finale.
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Miles said Alleva and the school president told him after the game that they wanted him to continue as coach.
“Certainly we’ve run into distractions before, but this seems to be a pretty prevailing and evident distraction”, Miles said. “I agree with Joe”.
O’Neal continued: “Hopefully, he stays – you know, I want him to stay”. It’s not enough to win occasionally. You have to win all the time. “This team should be competing for championships”.
Another likely factor is LSU’s incoming recruiting class. By many accounts, the Tigers have a top three recruiting class coming in next year and, if you were to get rid of the head coach and his staff who recruited these high schoolers, the nation’s top recruits could look elsewhere. Victory is nice, especially three weeks late. “And I said, ‘Magnificent'”. “It was hard for everybody”.
Allen finished 15 of 28 for 161 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
“It is kind of hard when the quarterback can’t set his feet and move the ball down field”, Sumlin said.
A month ago, the biggest storyline surrounding the game was the return of former LSU defensive coordinator John Chavis to Tiger Stadium. And it’s Les Miles.
And they got their wish. Miles heard the news from Alexander after his post-game meeting with the team. But the Tigers’ SEC record declined each year since 2011, when LSU last won the SEC title. Winning 75% of the games you coached, a national championship in 2007 as well as numerous other BCS bowl and National Championship appearances isn’t going to save a coach his job after an 8-3 season?
Miles said junior left tackle should be back from the foot injury that kept him out of last week’s Ole Miss game and “I expect him to start and play”.
There were a handful of pre-snap penalties and the passing game was largely ineffective. A number of his passes sailed over intended receivers or skipped off the grass short of their mark. Tailback Derrius Guice helped Fournette make up for that by adding 73 yards on 10 carries with a 50-yard touchdown run to give LSU a 13-7 lead with 7:13 to go in the third quarter.
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Miles entered Tiger Stadium more than two hours before kickoff to a roar from a small group of students already in the stands. Four plays later, Allen hit Ricky Seals-Jones in the end zone for an 8-yard touchdown, giving Texas A&M the lead 7-6 with 3:26 to play in the quarter. A listless crowd quieted by a scoreless second quarter suddenly came to life as the Tigers had a chance to take the lead.
