now that is a soundtrack.

it sure would be more entertaning for me if les left lsu despite a hearty pay cut.

Again, who does Michigan think they are? This is not 1911, and Wallace Wade came to me from the grave last night and informed me that Michigan was overrated back then, as well.

You couldn’t pry Ferentz away, because you wouldn’t match his salary.

Now you want to get into an arms race with a SEC program, especially one as crazy as LSU?

The better question is why LSU is so deadset on keeping Miles. He is going to lose 2 games every year for you, despite having a ridiculous talent advantage versus almost everyone you play.

Let him go, hire Muschamp, who will bring in a dynamic OC, and go win a couple of national titles instead of finishing 10-2 or 11-2 every season.

I call shenanigans.

My house is missileproof.

Mike Leach really needs to be a guest on EDSBS Live sometime during this coming off-season

He may be the only person capable of topping the Phil Steele episode

Special offer accepted, sir. Thank you.

I do not like this at all. I do not like this one bit. I agree with Orson, Ga. Tech’s AD was talking about pizazz and flash. I love Edsall to death but he is not flashy. As Grampa Simpson said to describe Johnny Unitas…“Now THERE’S a haircut you can set your watch to.” Aaaaand that’s Coach Edsall in a nutshell.

Please Georgia Tech…leave us alone. I hope Edsall is just doing this to get dollars from UConn like Schiano and Rodriguez did last year with their flirtings.

Per the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, recently tarred-and-feathed Steve Pederson (official name change to Ousted Nebraska AD Steve Pederson) will return to his previous position, AD at Pitt.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07334/838061-142.stm

The Wannstache will soak up of tears of joy, as Wanny was Pederson’s 1st choice at Nebraska.

I have a hot, unfounded rumor: if Edsall leaves, the new UConn coach will be Connecticut boy and current New York Jets coach Eric Mangini.

I had no idea Turk from Scrubs had a career in old school hip hop…

“despite having a ridiculous talent advantage versus almost everyone you play”

Where does this canard come from?

Meyer must suck because he lost to LSU, Auburn, and Georgia. Florida has more talent than anyone correct? How about last year when Meyer lost to Auburn and narrowly beat Vanderbilt and South Carolina. If that SC field goal is not blocked is Meyer magically transformed into an idiot who no person in their right mind would hire?

Tressel must suck because OSU had way more talent than Illinois. No one would hire that bum. 23-2 isn’t good enough.

Carroll is an idiot because neither Stanford nor Oregon is as talented as USC. And let’s not forget last year when he lost to UCLA and Oregon State.

It is clear that OSU, Florida, and USC are amongst the most talented teams in the nation. So why do are their losses tolerated?

Now admittedly, all three of the above coaches have won a national championship, but they have also lost with teams that were talented enough to win a title.

So is it that as long as you have one, you are allowed to piss away others without recrimination?

I have no idea if Miles will lead Michigan to a national title. But is he a good enough coach that it is possible? Seems to be.

I sense the price of weed in the 3-state region surrounding a certain GW grad, UConn fan will be going up due to a jump in demand akin to the 20-yr outlook for petro in China.

Please, God, let Lester stay. And with a huge buyout. Please…

I didn’t mean to state that LSU has more talent than everyone in the SEC, and nation, EVERY YEAR, merely that for the last 3 seasons, LSU has had more talent than every team in the West, and what do they have to show for it?

Granted, Florida and Georgia will be closer to LSU next season, matter of fact, I think Florida and Georgia will both be better than LSU, but I will take LSU on talent alone the last 3 seasons, and I might take them next year, even over Florida.

Les Miles is not Urban Meyer. Les Miles is not Steve Spurrier. Matter of fact, Les Miles may not even be Mark Richt.

At the end of the day, I feel confident that someone else can do more with LSU’s talent than Miles can.

Miles has been, to me, nothing but a caretaker since he arrived in Baton Rouge.

The 1- 1.45 million dollars would be made up by adidas, of course. Duh. In the form of fresh, white block M hats.

Coop,

At least he can beat Appalachian State, and that is a step up for us.

I call shenanigans on CKGator (#9) for stealing my joke.

You monster! Why are you like this?

i’ve got a good friend up here in PA who is a rabid LSU fan. He told me yesterday that Miles is the 5th or 6th best coach in the SEC and he bases this on Miles sideline management when under pressure/time constraints and the overall play of the team.

I tihink a lot of people would say that Spurrier, Tuberville, Meyer, and Richt are better coaches than Miles. Who knows, they may be right.

War Eagle!

OOC – I’m locked and loaded for a long winter’s discontent. I was prepared anyway…bowl season is heaven.

If Michigan’s looking to get a coach on the cheap, John Mackovic’s just waiting for the call, man.

How many times has Miles forgotten how many time outs he has, alone?

There are massive scoreboards above each end zone, Les.

Honestly, I don’t get why anybody has been impressed by him, to date.

Yeah, you might get a Mack Brown year with Les, when he has so much talent even he can’t screw it up, but, otherwise…

Coach coach coach coach coach coach coach.

Coach coach coach coach coach coach coach coach coach.

Coach coach coach.

Coach.

And that is the sum total of what college football is about, apparently. The other 572 factors that go into whether a team wins a national championship—including plain old dumb luck, which no coach is the boss of—might collectively amount to 1% of the equation…or is it 2%.

Sheesh.

Is it just me, or does the obsessive coacholatry get worse with each passing season?

tell me lies

tell me sweet little lies — about les

(tell me, tell me)

1. You are talking a bout a coach who once tried to call a time out on a change of possession. Fine, o.k., not everyone knows the clock will stop and not resume until the ball is hiked, but you hope to hell your head coach does.

1. - BG – With Terry Bowden now being discussed, you may very well be on to something.

@ #22 KH — I guess he just lost track of time, and thought it was still last season.

Oh, wait…that’s not terribly exculpatory, is it?

21-The irony is that it’s all Pete Carroll’s fault. He made USC into a friggin’ juggernaut in about 8 seconds when they had sucked for a good time before (save for the Keyshawn years). So now any school who had a hint of success said, wait, we can be juggernaut too? And quickly? We need a new coach!

Why the irony? USC fans nearly revolted when Carroll was hired.

Has it been brought up yet that Lou Holtthh unintentionally referred to the Michigan caoching job as “inbred” for the past 25 years?

Les Miles is definitely not the best coach in the SEC, and maybe not even in the West, either, by your own arguments.
Yes, LSU has had arguably the most talented team in the SEC- nay, the NCAA- for a few years (outside of a certain Pac-10 sack of fags), but what have they done with it? Gotten close? That’s a load of shit.
Call Les Miles a good recruiter- fine. He is that.
Call Les Miles a- well, i’m already out.
Not only is he not the best coach in the NCAA, the SEC, or the West, but he may just be the lousiest considering how he has squandered all that talent over his tenure.
You want to talk about a perinnial Coach of the Year candidate? Talk about Mark Richt. Now take it from a guy who hates the University of GA, Athens, the Hope Scholarship, Toppers, Uga, and most everything else about the school- Mark Richt has taken teams whose parents would barely even call “moderately talented” and has consistently been a force to be reckoned with in the East, the SEC, and the Nation. He just sits back, keeps his kids out of trouble, doesn’t cheat, and wins fucking ball games.
AND he has a balls-hott wife that serves the players gatorade on the sidelines. If that doesn’t deserve a trophy in and of itself, then the have more to fix than the BCS scoring system….
Tell me about a coach out there who has done as much with as little, and then I will listen to your rankings of the best coaches in the NC2A.

You can gauge talent by one thing….
How many top 3 round draft picks does your team bring to the table, that actually start as a rookie in the NFL?? In the past 3 seasons, LSU has to at least be in the mix as one of the top 3 NCAA schools to meet that criteria, yet they have underperformed…even with Katrina…he may get a mulligan on that year, but that was the year if Miles was considered to have “talent” with THE top draft pick at QB, the rest who went like Dwayne Bowe, Laron Landry, plus matched up with the talent from this year….I didnt believe it when they dropped those games last year and I was floored when they dropped those games, though entertaining, this year.I lay those losses at Miles feet, and I felt Pellinis defense should have been a shut down-shut out type defense, but at best they looked like a Bend,dont break type defense instead of the atttack attack and kill that I saw when St. Nick was there…

If Les were to win his last two games – big if but there it is – he would have three seasons in a row with only two losses.

To get to that at UM, you would have to go back to 1997 (1999 and 2006 were the others). To get to three in a row, you would have to go back to 76-78 (all 10-2 teams).

LSU has not had three consecutive seasons with less than three losses since 1935-37 (9-2, 9-1-1, and 9-2).

Saban – the genius – only had one season with less than three losses, 2003.

Not bad caretaking on Lester’s part, or at least is seems that way to this only occasional SEC observer.

One day, Les Miles will have a spectacular explosion in his face.

Something like Ole Miss is playing it close (for some reason) and he’s going to go for it on 4th and 2 on his side of the field, the QB or FB is going to fumble and the Rebels will recover and run in back to the endzone, losing the game and the SEC West.

Or he’s going to do a fake FG where his kicker gets smashed and breaks his ankle. They then proceed to lose by less than a field goal.

No one stays that lucky forever.

1. - you had me while you were ripping on LSU, but then you lost me when you were saying Georgia has not had any talent in the last 7 years with St. Richt on campus.

According to Rivals’ final recruiting rankings:

2008 – thus far – #2 in the nation, 1st in the SEC
2007 – #9 in the nation, 4th in the SEC
2006 – #4 in the nation, 2nd in the SEC
2005 – #10 in the nation, 2nd in the SEC
2004 – #6 in the nation, 2nd in the SEC
2003 – #6 in the nation, 3rd in the SEC
2002 – #3 in the nation, 2nd in the SEC

Les Miles is the most overrated coach in the history of football. But he’ll fit in at Michigan…losing two games to mediocre teams with the most talent in the country. Fantastic.

And I call bullshit on his we didn’t lose in regulation stuff. They should never, ever, ever have even been in overtime against either. Kentucky didn’t play a great game against them and Arkansas is probably going to RUN THE BALL AGAIN. I don’t get the Miles love, never have and hope he goes to Michigan because I hate them and all their fans.

Goliard (great to see you back in the blogosphere BTW after many years),

I remember massive coacholatry when Colorado hired Chuck Fairbanks in the 70s – that faded fast! Just more venues for it now than there were then.

As mentioned above, Carole Peete’s sudden success at SC made an impression nearly as far and wide as that made when Mangino sits on a soft surface.

Coop-
I know that they recruit well and have good players, and i’m not criticizing them in any way, shape or form, but my point is how many of their players in the last decade can the average person list? How many true superstars? How many first round draft pros? How many Heisman hopefulls? And not just GA fans, but well rounded NCAA fans- how many could they name?

Understand my point? Mark Richt has taken “good” talent and quietly and consistently cranked out SOLID teams with them. I also believe that they are the most underrated and underappreciated team in the SEC for the same reasons- they don’t fork out the drama or the scandals, they just win games.

at’s all i’m saying

“losing two games to mediocre teams with the most talent in the country”

2005 losses: Tennessee 27-30 (rank at time #10, UT finished unranked); Georgia in SECCG 14-34 (#13 at time, finished #10).

2006 losses: @ Auburn 3-7 (#3 at time, finished #9); @ Florida 10-23 (#5 at time, finished #1)

2007 losses: @ Kentucky 37-43 (#17 at time, finished ??); Arkansas 48-50 (unranked at time, finished ??)

Maybe three of the six losses were to mediocre teams, and there are other teams with as much or more talent than LSU. Again, how is Miles’ results that much different than Carroll’s last two years?

35 – Arkansas and Kentucky this year are totally mediocre and this was arguably his best team. You can’t compare results with Carroll because that guy has 2 (1 if you live in Louisana) national titles and played in another BCS title game. And built the program by himself. They haven’t missed a BCS game since 2001…he’s in a whole different league. Two titles gets you a pass to the Rose Bowl.

hahah, getting a pass for getting to the Rose Bowl…no wonder Rose Bowl officials hate the BCS.

MIles has trouble remembering how many time outs are left? Seems to be a perfect fit for Michigan athletics.

Comment by Excuse me Stewardess, but I speak jive

How Dare you put down Toppers. It is the tricycle of Strip Clubs from which I learned to ride Harley’s from.

Corey-
Talking about Toppers was my version of a hostage being forced to hold up today’s newspaper as proof of life- I didn’t want to sound like some random hater that had never followed UGA or been to Athens.
I take it back- that lil’ titty joint is one of the better just-off-campus titty joints i’ve been to. The $25 test-tube shot (administered without the server using her hands…) was well worth it. Maybe a tricycle with a broken pedal or a flat tire, though.

One can look at Les’ results relative to the coaching universe and come away sastisfied, and another can look at his consistent time management problems as indicative of a deeper problem that will become more apparent over time…

The interesting part about the Richt-does-more-with-less argument is that Richt himself had alot of troubles with clock management early in his tenure at Georgia…but this isn’t Les’ first head coaching gig.

Edsall Beelzebub @ 26 : USC fans nearly revolted when Carroll was hired.

And we were very very very wrong. Cosmically wrong, as it turned out – but really, who would expected the turnaround to be that dramatic?

This best coach in the SEC stuff is silly. Urban is the best coach. He’s won everywhere and he’s won regardless of his talent level. After him it’s Tuberville. After that it’s debatable. I may be the only person who thinks this, especially here, but Spurrier’s never done anything great anywhere but at Florida. It’s pretty easy to be a coach in the SEC, the talent is so good that it’s hard to not be a top 25 team.

With the kind of talent LSU has had on hand the last few years, a good head coach would have had a true 3peat MNC and 3 SEC titles, calling them the most dominant team of all time.

That’s how big of a fuckup Miles is. He took quite possibly the most talented SEC team of all time and still managed to lose two games per year, and almost lose six this year.

42 – I’m not faulting USC fans for being unhappy. As a Notre Dame fan and a Jets fan, I found the hiring comically. It’s just proof of what a crapshoot hiring coaches, no matter their track record, can be. Connecticut folks were not exactly thrilled when Edsall came on board (who the heck is this guy?) but we can’t stand the thought of him leaving.

Steve – you’ve convinced me. The fact that Miles has not beaten every opponent 222-0 to date (with the aforementioned unparalleled talent) should prevent Michigan from hiring him. We UM fans expect the “the leaders and best” and the best ever is the GT-Cumberland spread. We shall continue our search until we find a coach who can meet this criterion.

Les is almost certainly gone.

Rumors of his successor will result in one of two things: cause the entire SEC to laugh uproariously or cause them to shake in fear.

For anyone needing a break from all the coaching rumors, call 770-644-1031 for a good laugh.

It’s the menu hotline for the cafeteria at (from what semi-reliable sources lead me to believe) Wellstar Windy Hill Hospital in Atlanta. On the message, I’ve only heard it called “Windy Hill Caf?”.

I should’ve posted this number back when Roxy read out the menu to SoulJa Boy’s “Superman” or then again when, each day during the month of Novemeber, she proclaimed all that she and other cafeteria workers are thankful for.

But for now, call and enjoy the daily holiday carols of Roxy. My office and those of several friends begin each morning by putting her on speakerphone. I can’t think of a better way to start the day.

Jebus,

You, my young friend, are an idiot. Spurrier at Duke. Look it up. “Easy to coach in the SEC”? Look up Ed Orgeron, Curly Hallman, Ray Goff, Gerry DiNardo, Sparky Woods, Mike Shula. . .

#47
Would Ed Orgeron qualify for both? I’m just sayin…….

Oh, THAT Toppers! I thought you were bad-mouthing the fiberglass top on the back of my pick-up.

Steve Spurrier = 6 SEC titles in 12 years at Florida.

Pre Spurrier = Florida won 0 SEC titles EVER.

Jeebs, go back up to Big 10 country, you don’t understand legitimate football.

#49
Or you could have made is simple and just listed all of Alabama’s latest slew of coaches in the past…..
Alabama—Perkins,Curry, Stalling(MNC),Dubose,Fran, Price,Shula,Saban

Auburn—-Dye, Bowden, Tubbs, TBA…..(No MNC in the recent past or distant future)

LSU—-Dinardo.Saban(MNC), then Miles….(had last 1 out of the last 3 MNC for the taking, gambled it away)

Florida—-Spurrier(MNC),Name Redacted, Meyer

Tenn—Fulmer(MNC)

The SEC owned the 90’s Championships….needs to pick it up

Urban “undebatable” as the best in the SEC?

Not so fast…I think going 13-1 is nice, but Saban and Richt have done that too. Tubs has won all the games (and so has Fat Phil).

Tubs’ and Richt’s records in the past 6 years are comparable with Urban’s but both were in the SEC, playing some damn good teams (as opposed to whatever cannon fodder Bowling Green and the Two Utes played.)

One of the best? I’ll grant you that. But saying “there’s no debate who’s #1” really only works if you’re a CNN pundit talking about the democratic primary…

Big 10 homers, this is for you…Les Miles post game interview after losing to Georgia…

. Coach, couple of questions. After your first season in the SEC, how do you evaluate it against what you were expecting? And, second, what is the extent of Russell’s injury?

COACH LES MILES:" The SEC, you know, from top to bottom, in my opinion, is the most competitive, most athletic league that I’ve been at, been through.

I can tell you that our better teams in the SEC would compare and play with any teams in the country. I feel very comfortable there.

The Big 10 and the Big 12 play a different kind of football. Their guys seem to be a little slower in the pace of their game in relation to what I have seen so far in this league. Our guys played hard tonight and I am proud of that. We have 21 seniors on this team and I hope we can play in a big bowl for them. They deserve that."

Well those Miles quotes are just lovely; he should have no trouble adapting to our slow league (which does surprisingly well in head-to-head bowl matchups with the superior SEC).

Hey Pelican Pants — the Big 8 can count to 4 NC’s in the 90’s with fewer teams, and let’s not pretend that anyone else had a team go 60-3 during the decade.

Jeebs isn’t an idiot, but he is wrong about Spurrier not being a successful coach outside Florida.

With the schedules the way they are…would a Top 4 playoff work? 1 v 3, 2 v 4? or 1 v 4, and 2 v 3, with the winner of 1st round playing in the Natl Champ?

#56
Actually Ohio State—-your powerhouse….is O-FER vs the SEC……..
Well, this is sort of interesting.

Ohio State is 0-8… oh, you read the title. Right.

7 of those 8 losses came in the last 16 years. So far, 3 have come in the current decade.

Here’s the record:
2006 41-17 (Lost to Florida)
2002 31-28 (Lost to South Carolina)
2001 24-7 (Lost to South Carolina)
1996 20-14 (Lost to Tennessee)
1995 24-17 (Lost to Alabama)
1993 21-14 (Lost to Georgia)
1990 31-14 ((Lost to Auburn)
1978 35-6 (Lost to Alabama)

2007- sorry

Orson – Thats LOUIS XIII!! NOT LOUIS XIV.

Indeed, this commentor offered the proprietor of a certain blog 100 snifters of such cognac for one of said proprietors particularly propitious witicisms.

The confusion is understandable. After all XIV was the much more long lived, powerful and celebrated monarch and a much likelier candidate to have a premium brandy named after him,. The good folks at Remy Martin thought otherwise.

#60

The Big Ten went to 11 teams in 1993 and the SEC went to its present lineup in 1992. Here are the bowls since 1993:

And here are the bowl results of SEC/Big 10 contests since 1993:

1993 season
Citrus: Penn State 31 Tennessee 13

1994 season
Citrus: Alabama 24 Ohio State 17

1995 season
Independence: LSU 45 Michigan State 26
Outback: Penn State 41 Auburn 14
Citrus: Tennessee 20 Ohio State 14

1996 season
Outback: Alabama 17 Michigan 14
Citrus: Tennessee 48 Northwestern 28

1997 season
Outback: Georgia 33 Wisconsin 6
Citrus: Florida 21 Penn State 6

1998 season
Outback: Penn State 26 Kentucky 14
Citrus: Michigan 45 Arkansas 31

1999 season
Outback: Georgia 28 Purdue 25
Citrus: Michigan State 37 Florida 34
Orange: Michigan 35 Alabama 34

2000 season
Outback: South Carolina 24 Ohio State 7
Citrus: Michigan 31 Auburn 28

2001 season
Outback: South Carolina 31 Ohio State 28
Citrus: Tennessee 45 Michigan 17 (OUCH)
Sugar: LSU 47 Illinois 34

2002 season
Music City: Minnesota 29 Arkansas 14
Outback: Michigan 38 Florida 30
Capital One (Citrus): Auburn 13 Penn State 9

2003 season
Music City: Auburn 28 Wisconsin 14
Outback: Iowa 34 Florida 17
Capital One (Citrus): Georgia 34 Purdue 27

2004 season
Music City: Minnesota 20 Alabama 16
Outback: Georgia 24 Wisconsin 21
Capital One (Citrus): Iowa 30 LSU 25

2005 season
Outback: Florida 31 Iowa 24
Capital One (Citrus): Wisconsin 24 Auburn 10

2006 season
Outback: Penn State 20 Tennessee 10
Capital One (Citrus): Wisconsin 17 Arkansas 14
BCS Championship: Florida 41 Ohio State 14

So, since 1993, the Big Ten is 15-18 (45.45%) versus the SEC in bowls and 1-2 in BCS bowls. A clearer picture of domination has never been seen.

But you are correct about one thing, if OSU had pulled its weight, the Big Ten would be in a better spot.

I just thinkit is amusing that a school that has never had three 10 win seasons in a row (LSU) now suddenly thinks they’re a football superpower with a birthright entitlement to a national title.

 LSU has never been a football powerhouse. All the crazy Cajun inbreeding and drunken debauchery at tailgating won’t ever change that fact.

Edit previous post to say “had never had”.
 This year made it the first time they had 3 consecutive 10 win seasons in their history.

1. 60

Regarding “flagships” from 1992-2006 here are the SEC intraconference records:

Team Wins Losses Ties Win %

Florida 103 25 0 80.47
Tennessee 91 32 1 73.79
Auburn 77 44 2 63.41
Georgia 75 47 1 61.38
LSU 69 53 1 56.50
Alabama 62 50 1 55.31
Arkansas 56 65 2 46.34
Ole Miss 50 70 0 41.67
South Car. 45 74 1 37.92
Miss State 41 79 1 34.30
Kentucky 33 87 0 27.50
Vanderbilt 16 104 0 13.33

And from 1993-2006 here are the Big Ten intraconference records:

Ohio State 85 26 1 76.34
Michigan 85 27 0 75.89
Penn State 69 43 0 61.61
Wisconsin 66 43 3 60.27
Iowa 56 55 1 50.45
Purdue 54 55 3 49.55
Michigan State 51 60 1 45.98
Northwestern 46 66 0 41.07
Minnesota 38 74 0 33.93
Illinois 34 77 1 30.80
Indiana 27 85 0 24.11

So while OSU has certainly done better than UM recently, particularly when head-to-head results are considered, there is not a single “flagship” Big Ten school.

You looked solely at OSU’s record in bowls against the SEC (0-5 since 1993). Since 1993, Michigan, the other “flagship” is 4-2.

In that same timespan Florida is 3-3, while Tennessee is 3-2.

So are you arguing that Michigan is the best of the four teams?

An unnamed source says that Michigan just ordered 3 dozen XXXL navy baseball caps with a large yellow M logo.

If LSU wants to think that losing 2 games a year inexplicably to be 10-2 is OK, then replacing Les Miles is easy. Get John Cooper, you will start fast and fold like a cheap suit in the last two games.