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Michigan's filling of job lets Tigers' coach focus on title game with OSU
By George M. Thomas
Beacon Journal sportswriter
Published on Tuesday, Dec 18, 2007
Even those not used to hearing Louisiana State football coach Les Miles speak could sense the relief in his voice in a news conference Monday.
With West Virginia's Rich Rodriguez hired to coach at the University of Michigan, Miles is free to talk about his football team. Miles, an Elyria native and Michigan alum, turned down an offer to coach the Wolverines.
''I am happy, to be honest with you, that Michigan picked a quality coach,'' Miles said. ''I can tell you that it will certainly end questions that I will have to field. I can also tell you that I have a Michigan background, and that will never change. I will be loyal to that memory and that school.''
With the 800-pound gorilla in the room effectively slain, only the Jan. 7 BCS National Championship Game against Ohio State captured his attention.
That doesn't mean everything is peaches and cream. The LSU Tigers will still have issues when they grapple with the Buckeyes for the national championship.
Although LSU was anointed a title contender from Day One of this college football season, getting to the game didn't come without challenges, something that could be expected in the Southeastern Conference.
Others have questioned LSU's ascendancy from No. 7 to the No. 2 spot in the final BCS standings. Their appearance in the game does come after occupying the No. 1 spot on two occasions.
Miles doesn't deny that in a wild and wacky season, his team took one of the wildest and wackiest rides.
Both losses came in triple overtime, and in at least one of those games, Miles' propensity to take a gamble raised the eyebrows of fans and the media.
''I don't know anything about all of that. If things go the way they're supposed to go and things are decided in the third quarter, then we'll be all happy,'' he said when asked about his reputation. ''But things never seem to go that way, do they? As a coach, you have to give your team the best opportunity for victory.''
Ardent supporters might offer that the Tigers have been bogged down throughout the season by injuries to key personnel. All-world defensive lineman Glenn Dorsey, who won the Bronko Nagurski Trophy, Outland Trophy and Lombardi Award, missed significant playing time and wasn't a factor in the SEC Championship Game against Tennessee. Starting quarterback Matt Flynn missed that game and the previous game, and he just recently got back to practicing.
''It takes its toll. There's no question at some point in time that schools, teams are more healthy and less healthy,'' Miles said of his team's health. ''It's a testimony to our football team that we won two games with our second-team quarterback, a number of times our defensive line on the sideline watching, and yet, this team finds a way to win.''
It was after those two losses, against Kentucky and Arkansas, that the team suffered through the season's worst two emotional low points, Miles said but those experiences proved beneficial.
''This football team has it. And they wanted it. They wanted the (SEC) West. They wanted the conference, and they knew they were going to have to play, and play beyond injury and above circumstance,'' he said.
''At that point, they were playing for a glimmer of the national championship. But they wanted very strongly to win the conference. They, in my opinion, played a very gutsy game against Tennessee.''
LSU appears to have the elusive ''It'' factor. The Tigers showed resilience in working their way back into the championship picture after two losses, including one against the Razorbacks in the next-to-last game of the season. With both teams having long layoffs until the big game, Miles knows that his team needs that quality.
''I think the ability that this team has had to focus has been its strength,'' he said. ''I think they understand that we're playing in a tremendous game, but what needs to happen is that we need to prepare to play in this game.''
George M. Thomas can be reached atsportswriterabj@sbcglobal.net. Read his blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/sportsblitz/.
Even those not used to hearing Louisiana State football coach Les Miles speak could sense the relief in his voice in a news conference Monday.
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