It’s impossible to know what’s going on in the head of Ryan Perrilloux, but suffice it to say - that kid ain’t right. Perrilloux finally reached the breaking point of Leslie’s “10 strikes and you’re out” rule on Friday and was un-invited to the LSU football program. Was it just the inevitable outcome for a kid so cocky he came into college talking about “four Heismans”? One has to think that cockiness is at the root of Perrilloux’s sense of invincibility - tied up in counterfeiting, getting onto gambling boats with a fake ID, getting in fights, being an asshole all around town, not going to team meetings, not going to class … hey, “I’m Ryan Perrilloux” - but his degree of delusion is just staggering.
There’s also the factor of his father’s death in February, and I think it’s quite possible that any chance he had of getting right was sunk with that. The kid wasn’t prepared to just do what’s asked of all football players, so toss in the death of a parent and it’s not surprising he flamed out.
So Plan B for Ryan Perrilloux is transferring down to a I-AA program to redeem himself. That will require that he finishes the Spring semester at LSU, though, and there’s still a week and a half to go. If he can’t keep himself straight with the promise of being the starting QB at LSU, he many have a hard time just not killing somebody between now and May 13.
The book is now closed on Ryan Perrilloux. Career stats:
- 52 for 79 (66% completion)
- 704 yards
- 8 TDs
- 2 INT
And now we move on. I wouldn’t have put money down on the idea that Perrilloux would actually play this fall, but it’s more than a little troubling to face the reality now. It didn’t help that I heard this news in Athens yesterday morning from a Gator fan. Maybe Nick Saban coming over to my house to tell me would have been a worse circumstance, but just barely.
Whether it’s Harvard Boy, Jarrett Lee or Jordan Jefferson behind center, “untested” is a huge understatement for LSU’s QB prospects this season. The Tigers have enjoyed an incredibly strong thread of quarterback progression since the emergence from our Dark Days, and you can’t overestimate the significance of that. Consider this history:
2001 - Rohan Davey takes over for the Booty Who Shall Not Be Mentioned, Matt Mauck (pressed into service in the SEC Championship Game because of Davey injury) as backup, Marcus Randall in the wings.
2002 - Matt Mauck takes over for Davey, Marcus Randall (pressed into service for the second half because of Mauck injury) as backup.
2003 - Matt Mauck is the second-year starter, Marcus Randall as backup. JaMarcus Russell, Matt Flynn redshirted. Lester Ricard, Rick Clausen flee the program for lack of opportunity.
2004 - Marcus Randall takes over for Mauck, JaMarcus Russell challenges for the starting job, Matt Flynn as No. 3 QB.
2005 - JaMarcus Russell takes over for Randall, Matt Flynn as backup (pressed into service for the Peach Bowl because of Russell injury). Ryan Perrilloux redshirted.
2006 - JaMarcus Russell as second-year starter, Matt Flynn as backup. Ryan Perrilloux as No. 3 QB.
2007 - Matt Flynn takes over for Russell, Ryan Perrilloux as backup (pressed into service twice because of Flynn injury). Transfer Andrew Hatch is No. 3 QB. Jarrett Lee redshirted.
That was some serious continuity and progression to develop quarterbacks. And *poof* - it’s gone now. I don’t remember who Perrilloux may have chased off in the 2005 signing class, but having the chain broken is a huge potential for program disruption. Davey, Mauck, Randall, Russell and Flynn all had time to develop, and only during the Randall era was there much pressure to rush a young guy into the role. And, of course, during this stretch LSU has claimed two national championships, three SEC championships, four SEC West titles and six bowl wins.
At this point, I’m assuming Lee will be the starting QB come August 30. Somehow the Andrew Hatch bio page doesn’t scream “this guy’s a starter”, and unless Jordan Jefferson is truly special, I’d think Leslie would go with the redshirt QB.
So the question becomes, is Lee a four-year QB like Tommy Hodson … or like Jamie Howard?
As the guy still holding the No. 3 spot at Google for Fire Les Miles, I feel a need to re-address my feelings toward Leslie. Googlers will continue to arrive at pieces I wrote three years ago, but for those of you who manage to find this piece, my current view of the guy standing at the front of the 2007 National Champions is as follows: - Winning isn”t what makes somebody a good coach, and losing isn”t what makes somebody a bad coach. Good coaches tend to win and bad coaches tend to lose, but the measure of that comes over many seasons and depends on circumstances. I think Mark Richt has proven himself a good coach for building Georgia back. Ray Goff showed himself to be a bad coach for letting Georgia slide to mediocrity. But is George O”Leary a bad coach because he went 12-24 in his first three years at Central Florida? His 10-3 record this year would suggest otherwise, but if you are to deem Les Miles a good coach simply for going 34-6 in his first three years at LSU, you have to call O”Leary a bad coach - at least until this year. It”s more complicated than that.
- It”s a bit of an understatement to say LSU was fortunate to play in the BCS Championship Game this season. Leslie had his share of moron moments all through the season as well. Holding that Crystal Football will silence a lot of critics, and that”s understandable.
- That said, I think Leslie is growing into the job. Compare Leslie”s first game in Tiger Stadium - where his Tigers sat on the ball with two minutes left to force overtime with Tennessee to five-for-five on fourth down against Florida and the surprise touchdown pass to beat Auburn this year. Much of that could be the difference between Jimbo Fisher and Gary Crowton, and Fisher wasn”t Leslie”s man. But while Leslie still seems to be dumber than wood much of the time, the overall execution has improved tremendously. The Florida and Auburn games this season were the first performances that left me respecting Leslie, so that”s progress.
- Leslie is making the transition from winning with Nick Saban”s players to recruiting and winning with his own. LSU is a powerhouse program again, which gives it a huge advantage in recruiting. If Leslie can keep winning and keep recruiting, that”ll show him to be a great coach. So far he”s won and he”s recruited well. But it takes time to prove his greatness.
- And for better or worse over time, Leslie is LSU”s man now. Do I buy this “loyalty to LSU” stuff as the reason he”s still in Baton Rouge? No. He wanted to go to Michigan, but the Wolverines and Leslie both were incapable of not bungling their talks, and the timing sucked. He”s right that LSU is a great job and he”s lucky to have it, but he”d rather be in Ann Arbor right now. Michigan”s big hire of Rich Rodriguez, though, means we have Leslie for as long as he keeps winning or until the Michigan job opens up again.
I support LSU, and I”ll support Leslie. He”s shown me signs of promise this year, and you can”t deny the power of the Crystal Football. I don”t consider him to be a great coach yet - but I”ll call him good. But every game is a chance to show what a coach is made of, so I won”t hesitate to criticize or praise in the future.
Last night”s BCS Championship Game started bad for LSU. Real bad. And that turned out to be good. Real good. Four plays into the game, Ohio State was up seven. LSU”s first possession went like this: Three-yard run / incomplete pass / misfired shotgun snap / punt from the six on fourth-and-24. Ohio State opened their subsequent drive with a 44-yard pass to the LSU 15.
Things were bad. And that was good.
The Tigers held Ohio State to a field goal to find themselves down 10-0 five and a half minutes into the game. And the shock of such a horrible start was just what the Tigers needed to get back into focus.
It shouldn”t be this way, and LSU knew that. Without the catastrophic beginning, the Tigers might have slogged along playing halfass football like they did against Tulane in the same building three months ago. Had Ohio State been up 7-3 at the end of the first quarter, LSU might not have found the fire.
But they did - in a big, big way.
After the Buckeye field goal, LSU rolled off touchdown drives of 80 and 66 yards and unleashed a ferocious defense that led to a blocked field goal on one OSU possession followed by the combo monster safety blitz / big hit on the QB / pick downfield thing of beauty on the next Buckeye drive and a beautiful sack on Ohio State”s final drive of the first half.
And there you had it. 24-10 LSU at the half. In a normal circumstance, this turn of events would demoralize the victim. In Ohio State”s case, it crushed them. OSU was uniquely positioned to be sent into a state of depression by such a thing, having seen it happen last year against Florida and living the past 364 days vowing to not let it ever happen again.
But it did. Once again the Buckeyes went from feeling like they owned the game to realizing they were being schooled. Yes, the SEC is much better than the Big Ten. Case closed.
Any hope OSU still had was removed by LSU”s 80-yard touchdown drive to open the second half. Killing themselves with penalties couldn”t have helped the Buckeye spirit much.
By the time Ohio State stopped the 31-point LSU run with a pick of Matt Flynn and a fourth-down TD pass, the game was already done. More indignity followed in the form of huge sacks and interceptions before the Buckeyes were able to score again against LSU”s backups.
So Ohio State limped out of the Superdome realizing their position in life relative to the SEC and these Tigers.
Lots to absorb in this week of BCS Championship Game Glow and Les-will-stay euphoria. Some thoughts about some things: It”s swell to be asked to play for the BCS title. It really is. But this isn”t like 2003, when LSU was one of three undeniable monsters in college football. That year it was a question of who to leave out (Georgia fans take note: the human politics you believe kept you out of the title game is a result of humans wanting USC and computers wanting Oklahoma that year. Computers won the battle, but humans won the war. And, by the way, the computers also put you 5th).
This year it was a question of who to put in. Ohio State (the weakest of the five conference champions who might be considered) got their free Big Ten, one-loss pass, and then it came down to a question of which two-loss team to put in. Rightfully, the three teams that lost two games but won 11 - not 10 - and won their conferences finished 2, 3 and 4. Cases could be made for Va. Tech or Oklahoma, but the collective human and machine mines settled on LSU. And that”s fine. Great, even. But it”s not like 13-1 in 2003. That was a really amazing year.
But we”ll be back in the Superdome playing for the national championship for the second time in four years. It doesn”t get better than LSU playing for all the marbles in New Orleans. I”m working on how I can get myself down there now.
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Details are now coming out about what went down with Michigan and Les Miles - which is to say, not much. If you believe the Michigan A.D., he was waiting until Sunday to engage in any discussions with or about Leslie, and by that time LSU had sewn up the details on a nice, new contract for Miles.
As many a Michigan blogger has pointed out, this was either gross incompetence on the part of Michigan A.D. Bill Martin or a calculated strategy to avoid having to pretend they wanted to hire Miles by giving LSU plenty of time to wrap him up. It seems clear that Leslie wanted the job.
So is Michigan stupid? Or is LSU stupid for throwing a deal at Miles thinking he was talking to Michigan when he wasn”t? It”s hard to say, but clearly Leslie isn”t stupid - he jumped at the sweet deal LSU was offering when they (incorrectly) thought they were in a battle for his services.
But here”s the thing - as Ann Arbor News writer Jim Carty reports today (saving me from running down the numbers) - Miles” pay was already automatically going up for winning the SEC title (to about $2.8 million at least) and will go up to about $3.4 million if he beats Ohio State next month. It”s the same sort of incentive-based arrangement Nick Saban had at LSU. Of course, Miles gave his word to stay at LSU before his Tigers beat Tennessee to lock in the first bump, and if he foresaw LSU being in the title game, he probably made well in excess of $3 million betting on Pitt.
LSU is extending Leslie”s contract by one year - to 2012 - but an extension such as that would be pretty much automatic for a guy who”s gone 33-6 so far. There are hints that other, unspecified changes are in order for Miles” deal, but it”s hard to imagine they affect his ultimate decision.
So what caused Miles to blow off Michigan Saturday afternoon before he or his agent had even spoken with his beloved alma mater? I have a hard time believing it was just a sure-thing raise vs. a likely raise. He”s a Michigan Man, after all. Could he have been so pissed of at ESPN that he closed the door on Michigan right then and there? I can”t imagine that”s the case.
My best (uninformed) guess - Miles realized during the week, and especially when Bill Martin wouldn”t return calls Friday and Saturday, that Michigan wasn”t just going to hand the job to him. They were going to make him apply for it.
Him - A Michigan Man who played and coached for Bo; who has paid his coaching dues at places like Oklahoma State; who talks glowingly of the program at every opportunity and who had gone 32-6 following in the footsteps of Nick Saban in the toughest conference in college football.
Miles doesn”t need to prove himself to Michigan. They should want him like Ole Miss wanted Houston Nutt. And when he realized that wasn”t the case - and when LSU showed him how much he was wanted in Baton Rouge - he was done with the Wolverines.
Maybe someday he”ll coach Michigan, but I think Bill Martin will have to be gone and the Wolverines will have to grovel at his feet. For now, he”s an LSU man, and I”m behind him all the way. I”ll still criticize, but his rejection of Michigan”s games in favor of LSU”s commitment impressed me.
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Bo Pelini will be on the sidelines calling LSU”s defense one more time. Can Pelini put together a gameplan and coach his guys up while splitting duties as Nebraska head coach? I dunno. Sounds like a tough thing to do, but this is Bo”s defense and I don”t know who would be able to step in on short notice in his absence. It”s probably better to have half of his attention than all of somebody else”s.
And congratulations to Pelini for landing the Nebraska gig. That”s a big-time spot for a rookie head coach to land at age 40. I expect a defensive genius to be found to replace him. Will Muschamp, anybody?
- This was not a press conference to announce a contract extension with LSU. This was a press conference to deny a specific ESPN report from earlier today.
- Les Miles did not, in fact, say he’s signed any kind of extension with LSU. Neither did O’Keefe or Bertman.
- Les Miles did not say he’s going to stay at LSU. He “will be” the head coach - which could mean at 4 p.m. today he “will be” the head coach.
- Was Leslie lying today when he said he has no interest in talking to any other teams or yesterday when he said “”Reportedly, they have asked for permission to speak with me. I will allow that after this game.” Or did his “interest” change between yesterday and today.
I think this saga is far from over. A writer for the Times-Picayune said his information is that no deal has been signed with LSU, which is quite contrary to the reports today (which were quite contrary to the original reports today). So we shall see.
Update: So on LSU radio, with CBS and after the game in the press conference, Leslie said in no uncertain terms that he is staying at LSU and not taking the Michigan job. Fair enough. He’s either not going to Michigan or he’s upping the Saban jackass quotient. I think it’s probably true that he’s staying at LSU. The whole drama that’s been playing out is fishy, though. I’d like to hear the truth of what went on in Baton Rouge, Ann Arbor and Atlanta someday.
But I’ll give Leslie this: At his post-game press conference, he spoke of his love for Michigan, how he would love to coach there and that it pains him that he won’t be. I think that was real and genuine, and I’ll give him credit for that. And he spoke very, very highly of LSU and what the place means to him and his family. Well done.
I still doubt Leslie’s coaching abilities and I will continue to criticize him when I see fit (and praise him when I see fit). But if he’s sticking with LSU, then let’s go from here.
Live version presented here for the reaction of O’Keefe and Bertman.
With the now-expressed interest in Les Miles by Michigan (he”s awesome, guys! - please don”t take him away!!!), attention must be turned to a potential successor should Leslie leave for the semi-retirement of being the Michigan coach. And, of course, a name that has and no doubt will continue to pop up is Nick Saban. As laughable as the notion of Fonzie bailing out of Alabama after one season to return to LSU is, people will argue that it makes great sense. LSU is where Fonzie had his greatest success; it”s the job that made him love college football so much he had to come back; the job is somewhat less burdened with crazy fan expectations; etc.
With that in mind, I”d like to offer my list of former LSU coaches ranked by the potential that they would be asked to return to coach the Tigers.
1) Bill Arnsbarger - Sure, he”s 81 and has been out of football for 12 years. But he won.
2) Paul Dietzel - Sure, he”s 83 and has been out of football for 25 years. But he won.
3) Bo Rein, should be be found alive on a deserted island in the Caribbean
4) Mike Archer - Actually a viable head-coaching candidate again.
Gerry DiNardo
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