Alabama vs. LSU: 3 Classic Les Miles Mistakes He Can't Afford to Make Today

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Since Les Miles has become the head coach of the football team at LSU, the Tigers have had some of the best success in program history.

They won a national championship in 2007 and will be playing for another one tonight in New Orleans.

But for all of his success, the “Mad Hatter” has also had plenty of critics for some of his antics. LSU won the first game because he didn’t make any mistakes, and he’ll have to keep it that way to win the national title outright.

Here are three mistakes he must avoid.

Poor Clock Management

LSU has been one of the best teams in the country under Les Miles, but the team likely could have won some more games if it weren’t for his terrible clock management.

There are plenty of occasions where this is evident, but the most memorable one may be the 2010 home game against Tennessee.

The Tigers had the ball on the 2-yard line down by four points and ran the ball with no timeouts on the clock.

Apparently Miles had no idea about this, because the team looked confused and, in their hurry, snapped the ball over Jordan Jefferson’s head ending the game—except for the fact that Tennessee had 13 guys on the field.

LSU scored on the next play to win the game. Nick Saban’s Alabama team won’t let stuff like that go unpunished.

Bizarre Play-Calling

Miles earned the nickname the “Mad Hatter” because he can call some wacky plays.

He typically does them in opportune places but, as it goes with trick plays, not all of them work.

The Tide are a disciplined team and won’t bite on any of these kind of plays whether they are on defense on special teams.

He didn’t call anything crazy in the first game and won the game by making the big plays when they mattered most.

That needs to continue in order for his team to be successful.

Clock Management

It really can’t be emphasized enough how poor Les Miles was at clock management prior to this year.

He had become more of a joke than a coach, and despite all of his wins, many people wanted him fired almost entirely because of his game-management skills or lack thereof.

Alabama won the game if you go strictly by the box score and were a couple of long field goals away from winning the game outright the first go-around.

Rematches typically favor the team that lost the first time, so don’t be surprised if the Tide are winning or at least keep the game close.

If Miles screws up the game, it could go down as one of the worst coaching mistakes in college football history.