West Virginia Week: The Les Miles Show

In the opening comments Les Miles acknowledged that LSU has room to improve and noted that West Virginia is a good team that will present LSU with a challenge. He also pointed out that had Josh Jasper made one more field goal, he would have set an SEC record for field goals.

Ricky, the first caller, expressed concern about ball security considering the fumbles this year.

Miles:  Ball security is a primary concern and LSU is teaching and practicing ball security.

John, 2nd caller,  expressed concern about the offense especially the lack of passing.  The caller suggested more screen passes and toss sweeps.

Miles:  Acknowledged John's concerns.  Said LSU definitely has screens and threw a couple in the last game.  Miles said that he is looking for LSU to improve the passing game and provide a more balanced offense.  Miles sees the offense as an improving work in progress.  

Facebook LSU fan - Mark R.:  With more and more athletes getting in trouble, what do you do to recruit the right players?

Miles: You really talk to the high school coaches and try to get a feel for character of the potential recruit.  You bring the recruit to Baton Rouge and frankly, character is a hard thing to judge within the limits that we face.  Most players do the right thing but this is a tough time to be a college student with all of the choices available.

Josh, 3rd caller:  Go Job! At-A-Boy! for a good job. Will Deangelo Peterson be back?

Miles: Deangelo Peterson is 100% and he will be back. We plan to get him the plays that he performs best.

4th caller: When is LSU's offense going to start attacking the middle of the field to free up the receivers on longer routes and on the perimeter?

Miles: The middle of the field is a good place to attack the field among other areas.  We are trying to attack the middle of the field as well as the length and width of the field. 

Audience questions

Jeanie:  Jefferson has improved. Jordan Jefferson is running standing straight up and not sliding. What are you all teaching him to keep him from getting hurt?

Miles:  We want him to get the yards he can and then get down quickly, slide. He is tall and runs standing tall but we are trying to get him to get the easy yards and get down.

Jeanie 2nd question: When are we going to get a good trick play?

Miles: [Joking]  Does a screen pass count as a trick play?
Jeanie responds: No 
Miles:  [still joking] We have some super secret tricky plays planned just for this week. So, don't tell anybody. 


Miles is not going to talk about trick plays. I don't blame him.

Bradley: On the end around, teams are keying on Russell Shepard. They know that he is going to run. Do you think you might want him to throw once or twice just so that other teams don't always expect the run?

Miles: No, it would choke Shepard's motor to stop to consider passing, but; we have considered that idea. 


That is a kind of odd response from Miles. I think the caller has a good idea.

Evil Twin: When do you expect Will Blackwell back?

Miles: I would like to say near the end of the year but we need to consider whether Blackwell can petition for a medical redshirt year. Blackwell has already been redshirted one year.


Why in the world would there be any doubt about applying for a medical redshirt for Blackwell?

Back to Callers 

Caller comment:  Hats off to Jordan Jefferson, Jarrett Lee, Les Miles and a great recruiting staff. Offense wins games. Defense wins championships.

Miles:  Quarterback is a tough position and Jordan Jefferson is doing a good job of handling the criticism and the position. I like Jarrett Lee and his abilities also.

Will:  Why are you not using Russell Shepard in the wildcat?

Miles: We are evaluating how we think the defenses that we face will defense the wildcat. We try to use the best plays for the defenses that we will face.

Facebook LSU fan - Jeremy A.: What are the things you enjoy most of your LSU football experiences?

Miles:  I love being on the field, the crowd, interactions with my players, seeing my players respond to the hard things that we ask them to do, the coach-player relationship.  There are many memories that I enjoy and cherish.  It does not get any better than this!

Concluding Talk about West Virginia

WVU runs a different type of defense 3-4 "Okie" defense, how challenging is the WVU scheme?

Miles: It is very challenging because it is not a type of defense that you run into each week.

We are certainly preparing our players to succeed against this unique defense.

Is Richard Murphy ready to play?

Miles: He is improving and is coming along well.

Miles seemed more relaxed and joked at times with audience members.  Winning the first three games seems to have Miles "hot seat" problems cooling a bit.

Callers and audience members were more positive than previous Les Miles shows this season.

The critical callers seemed to be pointing toward a need to improve LSU's passing game. Miles' is focused on winning first but seems to have improving the passing game as an objective high on the list.

Fans are seeing steady improvement in all aspects of LSU's game. As in preseason practices and scrimmages, LSU's defense has jumped out to an early lead over the offense but; something in Miles' comments and tone tells me that he may be seeing signs that LSU's offense may catch up with the performance of the defense, as they did in preseason.

I expect LSU to beat West Virginia but, make no mistake, West Virginia is a very good team.