Les Miles: An 8-4 Record Will Close the Door on His LSU Career

Larry Burton (Syndicated Writer) For the last two years, I've been saying that Les Miles is not an elite coach.

His mediocrity in all things but recruiting is well known now. With Nick Saban's players gone, his record is a paltry 8-8 in the South Eastern Conference for the past two years.

If that's not mediocre, then please help me with the definition.

And he has three things working against him keeping his job past this season.

The first is his salary, one of the nation's highest despite only breaking even in the SEC the last two years. He's simply not worth the money they're paying him.

Secondly, he has one of the most talented teams in the entire country year in and year out on paper, yet he is 8-8 the past two years in the SEC, which has arguably been down in terms of quality over that span.

So, let's put not living up to the team's potential at No. 2.

The third is the schedule. Though they have some tough games at home this year, the home-field advantage has not been particularly kind to LSU in those kinds of games as of late.

Here is the schedule with projected outcomes and chances:

Sept. 4	North Carolina (in Atlanta)	Loss - NC Defense Too Tough for Tigers
Sept. 11	@ Vanderbilt	Win - This is Vanderbilt
Sept. 18	Mississippi State	Win - But could be a tough game
Sept. 25	West Virginia	Toss-Up - This could go either way
Oct. 2	Tennessee	Win - This won't be a typical Tennessee
Oct. 9	@ Florida	Loss - Gators have too much again
Oct. 16	McNeese State	Win - How could they lose this one?
Oct. 23	@ Auburn	Toss up - How Good will Cam Newton be?
Nov. 6	Alabama	Loss - No surprise here
Nov. 13	Louisiana-Monroe	Win - No surprise here either
Nov. 20	Ole Miss	Win - Ole Miss is rebuilding
Nov. 27	@ Arkansas	Loss - just chokes again late

That's four losses and two toss-ups, meaning he could do as bad as 6-6 but in typical Les Miles fashion, he may continue to lose one he shouldn't and win one he shouldn't. So he could wind up at 8-4 or 7-5 very easily but still just go 4-4 in the SEC.

That will show him the door. An early loss to North Carolina could speed up the firing talk and a win in that first game, may just buy him some time before the inevitable.

Even if he goes 9-3 and finishes third in the west again, it will be curtains for Miles. People at LSU will just not tolerate being mediocre with all that talent on campus.

The only thing remaining to be seen is where he will land after LSU?

Is there any athletic director who is still blinded by his BCS championship season? That will be the interesting talk at the end of the football year.