It didn’t take long for Les Miles to strike.
LSU lost straight-up as a double-digit favorite to Wisconsin on Saturday. Note this game was in Green Bay not Madison, home of the Badgers, and LSU had 30,000 fans at the game.
The Tigers, with their annual top-10 recruiting classes, held a huge talent edge on the Badgers. Wisconsin has injury issues on its offensive line, returned less than half of its starters on both sides of the ball and again appears to be weak at quarterback.
Yet the Badgers pulled the upset because Miles refuses to change his archaic offense. Leonard Fournette is a great running back, probably the best in college football. But the Badgers simply put up an eight-to-nine man front knowing Miles was going to stick with his I-formation and keep running Fournette into that wall.
That may work against a Division II school, but it’s not going to fly against Wisconsin.
No adjustments from Miles, the $4.38 million dollar man. Miles reminds me of those stubborn, clueless World War I generals who would have their troops get slaughtered by running straight into enemy fire not accounting for new technology.
If this wasn’t enough, Miles wasn’t even aware of the brutal cheap shot that one of his offensive lineman, Josh Boutte, did to Badgers cornerback D’Cota Dixon, who intercepted a pass with under a minute left to seal the victory. Boutte leveled Dixon well after the play ended when Dixon already was on the ground.
It was a totally classless play that no self-respecting coach – especially one at a big time program – should put up with. But that’s LSU, a team with awesome talent whose coach refuses to change with the times and an administration that apparently is willing to settle for minor bowl bids by keeping that coach.
