LSU Football: Why Can't Les Miles Just Move on from BCS Title Loss?

Admitting defeat and moving on is much easier said than done, especially if your nickname is “The Mad Hatter.”

For Les Miles and the LSU Tigers, the time to move on from the 21-0 loss in the BCS National Championship has come and passed. But, entering 2012 SEC Media Days, the team had to know questions about the loss to Alabama were bound to appear. Some were prepared and some were not.

Zach Mettenberger, Odell Beckham and Eric Reid all handled them with class. Mettenberger displayed a calm, cool demeanor about the subject. Beckham showed pain about the loss and Reid reflected on the positives.

Miles, on the other hand, opened a can of worms.

After being asked if he had any second thoughts about not playing Mettenberger last season, Miles delivered a shocking answer that caught everyone by surprise.

"Maybe he (Mettenberger) could have taken some snaps in that National Championship Game should he have not gotten hurt earlier in that bowl practice," Miles said.

Really? Rather than burying that game and looking forward to the future, you say this, of all things?

To make matters worse, Mettenberger seemed just as surprised as the media when asked about the comment directly following Miles.

"Well, let's roll with it I guess. I did hit my hand on a helmet, but if my number was called in the National Championship Game, I would've definitely been ready to play,” Mettenberger said.

Oh boy, that doesn’t exactly look great for the program. This is just another example as to why Miles is the most complicated coach to ever grace LSU’s football field.

He brings in great athletes, his players love him and he has had undeniable success. But, every now and then, he seems to always make a decision in a game or give an outlandish quote that leaves fans dumbfounded. Oh, the old familiar places.

It’s just hard to make sense of all of this. Why lie? Why fabricate something about a game that your own players are putting behind them?

Yes, LSU fans can be cynical at times. We all knew this to be true, and it's understandable that the head coach must cover his rear from time to time, especially when he played an incompetent quarterback the entire game. But, to say Mettenberger was hurt and act like you were even contemplating putting him in the game isn’t fair to Mettenberger, the players, nor the fans.

Whatever happened to moving on and giving some sort of coach analogy to use that game as motivation? Use that in the presser that’s going to be live on ESPNU. But, then again, we shouldn’t be all that surprised.

After all, this is Les Miles we’re talking about. And at this point, these egregious comments should be expected.

Jake Martin is a Featured Columnist of Bleacher Report and an intern for the Concordia Sentinel in Ferriday, La. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained first-hand or from official interview materials from the Concordia Sentinel.