The sight was all too promising. The yardage was all too unattainable. The situation was right down Les Miles’ alley. With that childish, devilish smirk on his face, Les Miles had faith in a troublesome situation.
The chains read third down and thirteen. On the previous play, Jordan Jefferson had been knocked out of the drive due to a vicious hit, and in comes Jarrett Lee. His path to the situation has been anything but smooth. The one-time dream prospect for LSU changed from prophetical to apocalyptical in a matter of games. At the end of the 2008 season, Lee had completed almost as many touchdown passes to opposing teams compared to his own team.
The only form of redemption was through clean-up duty for the ‘new’ prophecy, Jordan Jefferson. Through the first eight games of the 2010 season, Lee was on the path to redemption by being somewhat of a saving grace for a one touchdown to every four interceptions Jefferson.
Although the offense was still abysmal, SEC fans have a short memory. As Lee took the snap, Russell Shepard raced down the sidelines and past Alabama cornerback DeMarcus Milliner to free himself from a sloppy Alabama secondary zone/man combination.
Redemption has never been so wide open. As Lee tossed the ball into arms of Shepard, the most productive receiver of the day, the LSU fans were back on his side, and all hope of a repeat national championship for the Alabama Crimson Tide faded with the sunset in Baton Rouge.
Also fading throughout the day was the Alabama secondary. The saying is that you are only as strong as your weakest link, and the Tide proved that over and over.
Coming into the game, one expected the Alabama defense to shut down a weak LSU offense. Jordan Jefferson had only completed fifty percent of his passes and had not thrown a touchdown pass since the season opener against a depleted North Carolina squad. Jarrett Lee had not been much better, only throwing two touchdowns on the year.
Considering how well Auburn’s ‘cute’ secondary did against LSU, Mark Barron and company seemed prime for some turnovers and some big hits. At the end of the day, the Jefferson/Lee combination combined to go 14/20 for 208 yards and one touchdown. For an LSU fan, that is the equivalent of watching Ryan Mallett go for 500 yards against an FCS school.
It was not that the two quarterbacks played beyond their character as Stephen Garcia did in the South Carolina game. Honestly, the secondary looked confused, out of position, and unmotivated. After some missed tackles, assignments, and interceptions, I am sure the squad will go through some fire at practice before this week’s game against Mississippi State.
As far as the defensive line and linebackers are concerned, they played well. Adequate pressure was applied to Jefferson as he was smothered as soon as he released the ball a majority of the time. Although LSU rushed for 225 yards, it is not as bothersome considering they carried the ball a total of 45 times.
On the opposite side of the ball, Alabama is also as strong as its weakest link. The offensive line has been deteriorating all season. Everyone wants to point the finger at Mark Ingram and Trent Richardson, but it is hard to manage five to ten yards when three defenders are upon you at the line of scrimmage.
Thankfully, Alabama does have a strong running tandem that can manage that task as Ingram and Richardson both made impressive five to ten yard runs with multiple broken tackles.
The pocket protection was reliable until late in the second half when the LSU defense seemed to be pressuring McElroy more and more with each play until the bottom dropped. The play was all too reminiscent of the ’07 Alabama/LSU game where Chad Jones forced a fumble from John Parker Wilson late in the game to seal the win for LSU. As history wrote, the same fate occurred.
With all of the weak links that Alabama had in Saturday’s game, the deciding factor of the game was on the other sideline.
Even though he may live off thirteen men on the field, incomprehensible post game wordplay, and literal vegetation from the earth as one of his food groups, Les Miles is one of the best coaches in the game.
Both of his fourth down play calls were drawn to perfection, and he was smart enough to use a timeout to avoid what could have been a disastrous fake field goal. He does live and die off of those plays, and they can make him look brilliant or idiotic. However, he is one of the best coaches in football.
Most of you reading this article are probably shaking your heads and possibly cursing at what I just wrote, but ask yourself this.
Would you rather have a conservative coach that goes against what the players would love to do most of the time to conserve his perceived football sanity, or would you rather have a crazy, grass-eating lunatic that empowers his players to play for those one or two game-changing plays?
Do not get me wrong. I would definitely prefer Saban over Miles any day of the week, but the faith that Miles puts in his team is ultimately what wins the games. What Miles has found is a formula to overcome any team, including his own, by keeping it close and keeping the faith.
So, it appears that Death Valley has its own story of faith and redemption in hand. Jarrett Lee, Jordan Jefferson, and Les Miles, enjoy the storybook ending. I am predicting a sequel that contains its own redemption next year.
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