LSU Football: Has Les Miles Finally Heard the Voice of the Angry LSU Fans?

Culminating in last weeks game against the West Virginia Mountaineers, the LSU fan base has been voicing their disgust on talk shows and over the Internet with Jordan Jefferson and LSU's  totally inept passing game.

Last weeks statistics revealed that LSU was ranked last in the SEC in passing and ranked 102 nationally. The only positive factor about the LSU offense in 2010 has been the improved running game featuring Steven Ridley and others.

The fans have been crying out for coach Les Miles to give Jarrett Lee a chance to see what he can do to improve the LSU passing game.  For some reason Les Miles and staff had been steadfastly refusing to give Jarrett Lee a real opportunity even though Jefferson's performances have been down right pathetic and embarrassing.  

The Tennessee game started out like all other LSU games this fall with Jordan Jefferson as the starting quarterback.  Surprisingly, on the games first play from scrimmage, Jefferson faked to Russell Shepard and broke free on a quarterback keeper for an 83 yard touchdown.

On the Tigers next possession, Jefferson threw the first of his two interceptions.  So,  to begin the next LSU offensive series, Jarrett Lee came in as the quarterback to the delight of all Tiger fans. 

Even though Les Miles has been saying since his Wednesday conference call that he would begin to give Jarrett Lee more playing time in the Tennessee game, no one expected to see Lee playing anywhere near as much as he played.

Jarrett Lee was 16-23 for 185 yards and he made one ill advised throw into the end zone that resulted in a interception. While this interception may have cost the Tigers a chance to score, it did not give Tennessee great field position.

Lee's 48 yard pass completion to Ruben Randle was a thing of beauty as the ball could not have been thrown any better.  His crucial fourth down conversion (4th and 14) pass to Terrance Toliver with 1:22 seconds to go went for 20 yards and a first down at the UT 18. 

Without that conversion, LSU would have been eliminated any chance to pull out the victory.   

Comparatively,  Jordan Jefferson was only 3-10 for 30 yards and had two interceptions .  Jefferson's interceptions had more of an effect on the game as they gave The Volunteers good field position.   Jefferson has now thrown a total of six interceptions in the first five games.

It is hard to look at those statistics and not see the obvious answer that the fans have known all along and that is that Jarrett Lee is the much more talented passing quarterback, and it seems that finally LSU may have found an answer to their non existent passing game.

In light of what  Coach Miles has seen,  he says he still prefers a single quarterback, but he now says LSU will be going with more of a two quarterback system.  Coach Miles says LSU must go with the best talent they have at this time and Miles seems to recognize that Jarrett Lee is going to be his primary passing quarterback.  

I would say from all accounts and results of this game with Tennessee, that Les Miles has answered the question I raised in this article with a resounding YES.   With LSU amassing 434 yards in total yards of offense, which is by far their best showing to date and the fans angry clamoring for a change has most definitely had an influence on Les Miles and staff to play Jarrett Lee more.    

Additional to the successful passing of Lee, Steven Ridley continues to develop into one of the top running backs in the SEC as he rushed for 123 yards and one (1) touchdown.   With this new combination of running and passing, LSU has finally developed a balanced offensive attack that should  present new problems for the opposing defenses. 

The excessive number of penalties that plagued LSU during Saturday's game have revealed a new problem for the Tigers,  and the Coaches must eliminate these if LSU is have any chance to challenge the other big four SEC foes on the schedule. 

Although the LSU defense did hold Tennessee to 219 total yards, it appears that they still have a tendency to give up some big pass plays. This young defensive secondary is going to have to find ways to tighten up on the coverages and eliminate repeated lapses.

 COACH LES MILES AND HIS HOT SEAT:     

The wild ending of the game with Tennessee brought back haunting memories of LSU's time management game with Ole Miss last year.    Despite Les Miles' insistence that he has corrected these time management situations at the end of games, the Tennessee game further demonstrates that he is still plagued with these same issues.

The only difference is that Derek Dooley pulled Les Miles out of fire by having his own game management problems. Tennessee's having 13 players in the game with 3 seconds to go, enabled  LSU to go on to win this game on the last play. 

I dare to say Les Miles would be singing a totally different tune today had Tennessee not pull their own Faux Pas that cost them the victory.  The difference today is that Les Miles is all smiles, and it is Derek Dooley that is now left to question his own staff's game management issues that ended up costing UT the  upset victory.

I will say finally, that Les Miles playing of Jarrett Lee did go a long way in solving of his offensive woes, but his end game antics will continue to cause his Hot Seat to stay hot.   With up coming games starting this  weekend against the Florida Gators, Coach Miles and staff will have little margin for error the rest of the year.  

The LSU fan base is expecting a lot from Coach Les Miles and staff, and beating the big four SEC teams he faces will be almost mandatory.  Should he beat Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide, some loses may be a little easier for Tiger fans to take.   

These fans have been spoiled, and stopping Nick Saban from winning his 2nd straight BCS National Championship for Alabama would be extremely satisfying to the LSU fan base.  However, outside of beating Alabama, the fans will accept nothing less than winning an SEC West or Conference championship.