Did LSU Learn Its Lesson?

The biggest comeback in LSU history.

That’s what LSU’s 40-31 victory over Troy was Saturday night. After trailing 31-3 deep in the third quarter, the Tigers flipped the switch and Troy fell apart.

So if you’re savoring this win, I’m happy for you, but don’t let the result blind you.

LSU should never have gotten behind by four TDs in the first place. The fact that LSU won this game is a testament to LSU’s players and coaches for not quitting, but you should feel more negative feelings about this game than positive ones.

The biggest problem is LSU is not improving as the season progresses (see: Florida).

That’s the red flag.

This game turned into a runaway kid. You know, the kid that gets angry with his parents and decides to run away from home. After hours of being missing the parents are worried sick, but in the end, the kid gets found and the parents are so happy to see their little darling they don’t punish him, because in the end he wound up being safe.

Ground that kid for life!!! He still needs to learn his lesson. If no lesson was learned in this game, then next time there'll be no comeback.

This game brought on some other points...

1) The “agent of change”

When trying to decide what I was going to write about this week while it seemed LSU was going to drop a laugher, I thought that this game in the long run wouldn’t be a bad thing since it would probably mean the end of the dual defensive coordinator experiment.

I thought this game would force Les Miles’ hand to scrap the Doug Mallory and Bradley Dale Peveto arrangement at DC. Les is known as being loyal to his players and coaches, and I thought it would take a glaring trespass to remove these two guys.

Losing to Troy would be glaring. But after being torched by Troy’s spread for 31 points (err, make that 24—Jarrett Lee gave the other seven), the defense looked abysmal. No pressure, no coverage, no intensity, and they looked confused.

The defensive backs constantly played with too much cushion. I understand that comes from a coaching staff that doesn’t trust its DBs, but change it up every once in a while, will ya?

Troy dinked and dunked its way to 200 yards passing in the first half. LSU was picked apart like a Thanksgiving turkey.

If Les Miles, whose background is offense, wants to succeed, he’ll need a strong defensive coordinator. He used to have one in Bo Pelini. Miles thought by establishing Mallory and Peveto as the co-DCs and promoting from within he would be able to establish continuity in the defense, as well as stay loyal to his coaches.

The problem is, it’s not working out, and the shaky play of Jarrett Lee is overshadowing the real problem—the defense.

Losing this game would have insured that Miles would’ve made a change at DC. Now with what’s considered “good” defensive performances against Alabama and the ability to shut down Troy in the latter parts of Saturday’s game, this may keep these two guys in the same spots next year.

That’s not a good thing.

2) The offense

So many want to say it’s Offensive Coordinator Gary Crowton’s fault for putting Jarrett Lee in tough situations, but it’s not always the case. The main gripe is that we don’t run the ball enough, but those that watched the game knew that Charles Scott was getting stopped over and over again. No one seems to remember that for some reason.

Troy did exactly what you should do against LSU: Stack the box and make the QB beat you. Neither Lee nor true freshman Jordan Jefferson was able to do that until the waning moments of the third, where a dual effort by both QBs ended a drive in the end zone. From there, the defense stiffened and the two units fed off each other.

3) Jarrett Lee

You can heap as much praise as you want to on the kid for the comeback, and it’s well deserved, but he dug that hole in the ground that created the mountain he and the rest of the team had to climb.

Lee has spotted six out of the last seven teams he’s faced seven points each. He spotted Georgia 14.

The fact that LSU has only managed three losses (all to teams currently in the top 10) while basically starting each game with a -7 spot is incredible.

The simple fact is that Lee is young, inexperienced, still making mistakes, and is the victim of some bad luck as well.

What fans are worried about, though, is Lee’s lack of improvement through the year. Lee will never suffer for arm strength but has trouble with his progressions and reads. He sometimes forces balls he shouldn’t be forcing.

Little simple missteps that should be avoided through repetition are finding their way into his game week after week. So the question becomes: How much time does Lee need?

Is it too much to expect him to become more efficient as the season goes on, or does he need a whole year or two under his belt before he can pay dividends?

I’m not saying he needs to come along right now, but other than second halves against Auburn and Troy, little improvement has been shown. But again, he is a freshman.

4) The fans

OK, first off I can write anything critical I want to about Lee within reason. I can say he does things wrong mentally or mechanically and not be off base because this is still football we’re talking about, and those mistakes are happening in front of our faces.

I would never question his heart or his will to succeed even if they were in question because honestly, I don’t know the guy. (Not that either of those attributes are in question anyhow.)

I don’t know the time he puts in every week working to become better. But I do see where he makes mistakes on the football field and can comment on that.

But fans, c’mon, you can’t boo the guy. I don’t care how much you pay for your seat, you just can’t boo him.

Every week it gets worse.

Some disguise their actions by saying, “I wasn’t booing him, I was booing the coaching staff.”

How about not booing at all? Is that too crazy?

If you want to show discontent, don’t renew your season tickets or call in to Les Miles’ radio show and ask him a question. But the booing of Lee needs to stop. Period. He is trying his best, and after Saturday night, I don’t think there’s any question that he is our best option at the position right now, so deal with it.

Next issue...

If Tiger Stadium holds 92,000-plus, then about 60,000 people headed for the exits around halftime.

I know the weather had a lot to do with that. People down here don’t like the cold, and many go to games with wives and kids, which makes it difficult if you’re outvoted on staying and watching a team playing like garbage while suffering through a windy 30-degree wind chill debacle. Not to mention sitting through homecoming halftime, which lasts like 40 minutes.

So there were many strikes already working against the fans on this night.

And let’s be honest, this kind of thing happens all over the nation so don’t get too worked up about what other people (like ESPN) are saying about you.

Do I really care that so many fans left early?

For some reason I don’t. I’d rather someone leave early than boo. LSU basketball coach John Brady got fired when people refused to come to games. The fans’ message was finally sent and received.

While Les Miles praised the fans who did stay (and my hat's off to them as well), maybe the louder message was sent to Miles by those who left. That the first 30 and the ensuing 14 minutes of so-called football LSU put together was uninspiring, unwatchable, and unacceptable.

Since the game was only televised locally through pay per view, it took a real fan to stay in a seat or tuned to the radio after three quarters of such a horrid performance.

I was one of those pay per view guys who sat through the whole thing in the comfort of my living room. But I really wanted to watch the whole thing to see if the Tigers could put forth an effort at some point. Of course, they finally did, but the outcome of this game shouldn’t overshadow deficiencies that nine times out of 10 lose that game against an inferior opponent.

So in a way, I think it’s OK to leave, but another part of me dislikes the direction some of the fans are taking these days.

This fan base has become too spoiled in recent years, and it showed Saturday night. In my own very humble opinion, this is what happens when you price your regular fans out of the stadium and you get the richer fans who look at this as more of a social event or a chance to wine and dine clients, rather than the one of a kind football experience that it is—or at least it used to be.

The Athletic Department would tell you that it’s the cost of doing business if you want to be an elite program.

The fans responded by saying the price of your cost of doing business is only 30,000 fans in seats after halftime if your elite program lays an egg against a team like Troy.

It works both ways.

Could the fans have been better? Yes.

Could the players and coaches have done better? Yes.

Let’s wipe the slate clean and focus on the Rebels, because they’ll be exponentially more trouble than the Troy Trojans.

LSU avoided disaster last week—can they do the same against Ole Miss?

If they don’t, here’s one fan who wouldn’t be surprised.