LSU-Alabama: Has Les Miles Finally Conquered the Ghost of Nick Saban?

Every since Les Miles was hired in 2005 to replace former LSU coach Nick Saban, he has been unfavorably compared to Saban by LSU fans and in the local and the national media as well.   

Even though Miles now has the most wins in his first five years of any coach in LSU history, which also exceeded Saban's years, it seems that nothing he has done will allow him to escape from under the Ghost of Nick Saban, and that even includes winning the 2007 BCS National Championship. 

To add more fuel to fire against Miles, the infamous clock management game against Ole Miss in the 2009 season brought even more ridicule and embarrassment to LSU, Miles and his entire staff. 

All during the current 2010 season, Miles and LSU have been called "LUCKY" and they have not been respected by the media because of so many close games. These issues have just added to the negative opinion of Coach Miles and this LSU program. 

As an added element, Miles and the Tiger fanbase have had a running feud over the unproductive quarterback position and the use of Jordan Jefferson over Jarrett Lee. The passing game under Jefferson has been sorely ineffective, and when Lee has come into the game, things have seemed to pick up. 

However, in spite of the fans' obvious displeasure, Miles has remained steadfast and has refused to budge on his decision to start Jefferson instead of Lee.

In the Alabama game this past Saturday, which was easily one of LSU's biggest and most important games of the year, Miles' decision to stick with Jefferson finally paid off, as Jefferson had his finest and most productive outing of the year against the defending national champions. 

For LSU Tiger fans, the Alabama game is looked on as an opportunity to stick it back to their former coach and his Alabama Crimson Tide.  

But for coach Les Miles, the Alabama game is a game in which he not only realizes how important it is to the fans, but also how important it is for him to win and beat Saban with his own players so he can finally get out from under the Ghost of Nick Saban.

In this game, Miles did more than just win the game; more importantly, he actually out-coached Saban and showed the world what he could do with his own players and game preparation.  

Miles caught Saban off guard not once, but twice with his riverboat gambler calls. First it was Josh Jasper with a fake punt that went for 29 yards and a first down. Then it was a 4th-and-1 handoff to Deangelo Peterson on a tight end end-around for 23 yards and a first down to set up the winning touchdown.

Miles has been under attack by most sports Internet sites, local media and call-in shows for this year's anemic passing game and low offensive output. I include myself in that group as one of those that has disagreed with Coach Miles for his decision to start Jordan Jefferson over Jarrett Lee.  

Most of us on this site are giving our opinions and writing about the things we see going on at the present time, and I have written my opinion of the situation at LSU with Coach Miles and his continued playing of Jefferson.   

However, I always try to give credit where credit is due, and I therefore want to congratulate coach Les Miles on a magnificent coaching job he did against Alabama and one of the best coaches in the country.

Other than seeing some boring running plays with which I was very displeased, I must say that Miles called a very good game, and Jefferson played and executed an excellent game plan.

Jefferson's pass to Rueben Randle seemed to exorcise the demons from his passing game, and he grew enormously in confidence from that time forward.

His passes were no longer behind or over his receivers, as in past games, but were generally on target, and there is no better example of that than his pinpoint two-point conversion pass.

No longer can the negative detractors say that Les Miles is winning with Nick Saban's recruits, nor can they say he can't beat and compete with the best coaches in college football.  

Both coaches had two weeks to prepare for each other, and I can say without a doubt that Miles had his team better prepared and more ready for Alabama than did Saban for LSU.  

In their post-game news conferences, Miles was upbeat, humble and obviously proud of his LSU Tiger players and his staff, while Saban appeared drained and bewildered about what had happened to his team.

I think this game is most important to both coaches, but for coach Les Miles this game means HE HAS FINALLY REMOVED THE GHOST OF NICK SABAN from his LSU program.