OT: Bobby Hebert Calls Out Les Miles

Submitted by Thorin on

T-Bob must feel like a kid whose dad got thrown out of a little league game for arguing with the umpire, except this was the National Championship game and Hebert kind of has a point. I thought Miles showed great restraint given the circumstances.

BRCE

January 10th, 2012 at 6:17 AM ^

My favorite casual shirt is a hand-me-down Michigan Panthers tee from 1983 that's still in good condition. Countless times a passerby on the street (usually a man 50-60) has brightended up at the sight of it and said "great shirt!"

I was in diapers when the USFL disbanded but a lot of people around here remember that team and that time fondly.

tommyz

January 10th, 2012 at 6:42 AM ^

IMO, He was spot on..Game Plan, Execution, Coaching, all were awful on the LSU side.Not going to Lee just sealed the fate of the game..Not saying Lee would have done anything, but he could not have been worse..Great  "question" by Herbert

wolverine1987

January 10th, 2012 at 9:11 AM ^

there is absoultely zero justification, none, for not putting Lee in place of Jefferson. Jefferson cleary was confused and had no confidence, they needed to pass to stop Bama from crowding the box, and Jefferson is an erratic passer at best anyway. Really dumb non-move. Plus LSU both had no answers for Bama nor did a thing different on offense to counter them. Bama likely would have won anyway with that defense, but Miles helped them out. A lot.

Oscar

January 10th, 2012 at 4:27 PM ^

Honeybadger's weakness in the passing game was the biggest surprise to me.  I guess I bought into the hype that he was like Charles Woodson, granted he is only a soph, but I don't remember Woodson ever getting exposed like that.

beeg75

January 10th, 2012 at 7:03 AM ^

Seems like there would be a slight conflict of interest...No matter the level, some parents just cant seperate their kids from reality. There was nothing LSU or Les Miles could have done last night personnel wise that would have made a difference. 44 days is way to many for Nick Saban to prepare for any college football team.

big10football

January 10th, 2012 at 7:13 AM ^

Sounds like this is going to be a popular criticism.  I don't think its fair.

Lee threw two picks on 7 attempts in the first game against Bama.  I don't know why Lee was put back in the game against Bama the first time they played.  I think Jefferson is the better quarterback. He asks "who cares if he throws a pick 6."  Well I'm sure Miles cares. A pick 6 is kind of a big deal.

It seems like everyone is just going to assume that Lee would have done something while all the evidence indicates that Lee would have been as bad or worse than Jefferson had he come in.

Michigan4Life

January 10th, 2012 at 8:17 AM ^

but he was god awful to the point where pulling him makes the most sense. Lee did lead LSU to 9-0 record before facing Bama.  Can't hurt to try to see if he can be the spark for LSU and could encourage LSU to play with emotion as opposed to seeing Jefferson crying like a bitch and blame on his players for his misfortune.

big10football

January 10th, 2012 at 9:06 AM ^

I think it could have hurt. They were still in the game until late. They still had a chance to win. I still think, looking at the first time LSU played Alabama, that Jefferson gave them their best chance to win.

I think it's easy to make these kinds of criticisms. I remember in Henne's last year, I was watchng the OSU/Michigan game with a kid that kept telling me that Michigan should pull Henne and put in Mallett. It was essentially the same argument, that Mallett couldn't possibly do worse than Henne because Henne wasn't moving the ball. So the worst Mallett could possibly play was the same as how Henne was already playing. 

I think that no matter what decision Miles made, he would have been criticized by poeple who assume that it was a bad decision and that the opposite decision would have miraculously turned things around.

I'm very convinced that Alabama would have dominated Lee at least as bad as they dominated Jefferson.  Second guessing MIles seems futile because of how Alabama played.  No matter what decisions Miles or the O-Coordinator made, Alabama was going to have an answer IMO.

Michigan4Life

January 10th, 2012 at 9:51 AM ^

is Jarrett Lee played well this season until Bama game.  Prior to Bama game, he helped lead his team to a 9-0 record and was very efficient with the ball with 3 to 1 TD:INT ratio.

Comparing Jefferson/Lee with Henne/Mallett are totally different thing.  Jefferson never showed ability to be a good QB despite physical tools while Lee may not have physical tools to be a better QB than Jefferson but he played better this season than him.  Henne was proven and has been through the fire while Mallett is unproven.  It's apples to oranges.

Saying Jefferson gave LSU the best chance to win? lol, LSU got shut out and could not finish any of the drive past 50.  Jefferson was tentative and made tons of terrible decisions.  Lee could not do any worse than Jefferson and could give LSU a spark.  You have to pull Jefferson and put in Lee especially when Jefferson was a whiny bitch and showed defeatest attitude.

big10football

January 10th, 2012 at 12:56 PM ^

I'm not comparing Henne/Mallett to Jefferson/Lee, I'm only comparing the argument. Your last paragraph makes my point.  You can say the exact same thing about Henne's performance.  Criticizing a coach for not taking out a player who had a bad game is easy to do becasue you simply say "the guy he kept in didn't do well, therefore, the back up couldn't have played worse." 

What Lee did against 9 other teams that don't have Alabama's defense isn't very relevant.  Alabama's defense is a whole other animal.  They proved it in both games against LSU.  Lee was a disaster the first time he played against Alabama. He wasn't better than Jefferson was last night.

Michigan4Life

January 10th, 2012 at 4:26 PM ^

Not the same type of comparison at all.  Jefferson is not proven while Henne is proven.  Henne may play like shit in the first 3 quarters, but he showed the ability to come through the clutch which is something that Jefferson never had to do in his career.

How can you say that Lee won't be any better than Jefferson last night if he never had the opportunity to play against Bama defense the second time around?  He could learned from his mistakes and can perform much better especially if Bama were preparing for Jefferson.  Lee is a different type of QB and the playcalling would be drastically different due to the QB's style and strength/weaknesses.

MichiganTeacher

January 10th, 2012 at 10:07 AM ^

Jefferson may have given them their best chance to win in the first game, but he was giving them no chance to win last night. Makes no sense to go with someone who gives you no chance to win. Might as well put Honey Badger in to run the single wing with no reps at all. Couldn't have been worse and at least it would have looked like you were trying.

Also, just on principle, to set an example for the rest of the team going into next year, he should have pulled a bunch of people from the offense. You get two first downs in three quarters, you're going to be pulled.

Henne in his last year wasn't as bad as Jefferson last night.

 

beeg75

January 10th, 2012 at 7:45 AM ^

I dont think the 150+ days is the same preperation wise for Saban against Michigan...Lsu is a confrence opponet that they had already played once, who they are very familiar with( I think that had alot to do with the success of Nick Sabans game planning). As for the '12 opener, I think Bama and Michigan both will be drasctiaclly different come September then they were the last times we saw them play. Giving neither team much advantage in the way of scouting or preperation...

Rabbit21

January 10th, 2012 at 7:49 AM ^

I hate saying this, but Dantonio and Saban are buddies and given Dantonio's somewhat insane hatred for Michigan and the fact he's had a good gameplan to take Michigan down the past two years, I'd say get ready for a LOOOONNNGGGG day in Dallas next year.

I really hope I'm wrong, but I doubt it.

aaamichfan

January 10th, 2012 at 10:14 AM ^

Are you trying to say that Saban is going to invite Dantonio down to Alabama, and the two are going to come up with a gameplan against us? Because Saban is somehow unable to come up with a defensive gameplan himself?

If they were actually good buddies, I doubt Saban would have ran the score up on him last year.

Moleskyn

January 10th, 2012 at 9:08 AM ^

No matter your opinion on whether or not Lee should have come in, it was absolutely disgraceful when the LSU fans booed Jefferson as he came onto the field in the 4th quarter. I'm sure most of the fans were thinking they were booing Miles for not putting Lee in, but what does that say to Jefferson as he's coming onto the field?

It makes me thankful that we don't have any fans who would do the same thing...

coastal blue

January 10th, 2012 at 9:35 AM ^

Jarret Lee was a competent starter who helped lead LSU into their game against Alabama with an undefeated record. 

Considering Jefferson's claim to fame was scoring 9 points in an overtime game against Alabama in which they weren't ready for him, it made little sense to not give Lee a shot when Jefferson was clearly in over his head. 

Also, thinking back, Jefferson was garbage against Georgia too. He led them to 0 first downs in the first half of that game and really, if it wasn't for special teams and Georgia's receivers dropping two sure TDs in the first, they probably would have lost that game. 

Moleskyn

January 10th, 2012 at 9:52 AM ^

Eh, Jarret Lee really isn't that good. To say that Lee led LSU to a 9-0 record is to use the term lead in the most general sense. It would be more accurate to say he stayed out of the way and didn't make stupid mistakes. In the 8 games when Lee was the primary QB, he averaged under 20 pass attempts per game (19.4, to be exact), and he threw for over 200 yards once. In the game against Alabama in week 9, he went 3-7 for 24 yards and 2 INTs. People who wanted to see Lee come into the game were clearly just thinking the grass was greener on the other side of the fence.

coastal blue

January 10th, 2012 at 9:58 AM ^

Right, that's why I said "competent starter" not ALL-AMERICAN WITH A LASER ROCKET ARM. 

And also, like I said, Jefferson's biggest claim to fame was leading - because thats what QBs are considered, the team leaders - LSU to 3 field goals in an overtime game against Bama, it made little sense to at least not try the other guy when you had 1 first down in the first half of the national championship game. 

But mainly, my whole post was just to say there is a big difference betweeen wanting to throw in an unproven Devin Gardner for Denard and wanting to replace Jefferson with a guy who has started double-digit games in his career and played fairly well earlier in the season. 

coastal blue

January 11th, 2012 at 1:27 AM ^

What I'm saying is this: Jefferson won the job for the season based on a victory in which the offense he was leading scored 9 points. 9. points. In an overtime game. One in which the opposition wasn't prepped for him to play the role that he did. He didn't put up some 250 yard passing, 100 yard rushing, 4 TD game against Alabama that made him invincible in the depth chart. He did the bare minimum while LSU's defense did the rest. 

Thus, when Alabama was busy making him look like a high school freshman, there should have been no hesitation to throw in Lee. 

jmblue

January 10th, 2012 at 11:41 AM ^

Lee isn't a superstar, but he's a competent passer (62%, 14 TDs against 3 INT).  Perhaps more importantly, he was under center the majority of the season.  He had been the leader of the offense.  Jefferson only started the final third of the season.  He hadn't been there most of the way.  Personally, I don't understand benching an undefeated QB in November.   

Tater

January 10th, 2012 at 9:27 AM ^

As as former player, Hebert should have known he was going over the line with his questions.  Maybe he feels empowered by the success of Craig James as a helicopter parent abusing his media privileges, and figured he might as well vent.  It's not like there are any consequences for media members being obnoxious to coaches right now.

Other than one paragraph when he retired, Hebert really hasn't gotten much national coverage since he went to the Pro Bowl following the 1993 season.  Now he has some.  Too bad: I thought he had more class than that.

nyc_wolverines

January 10th, 2012 at 9:52 AM ^

.. Should remember J Jefferson's performance through the first 5 games of 2010 versus J Lee's first 5 games of 2011. 

JJ had some horrible decisions, particularly trying to shovel to Spencer Ware when Spencer had his back turned to JJ to block for him - the % tendency of the option is for JJ to cut back on the overpursuit, and S Ware has a real beef with his QB on that shovel pass interception.

Brown Bear

January 10th, 2012 at 9:52 AM ^

I disagree.  He hosts the top rated radio show in new orleans and covers LSU all season long so I don't think comparing him to James is right.  He called it like he saw it and good for him as being a member of the media he is allowed to.  Not bush at all in my book.

Blue Bennie

January 10th, 2012 at 10:42 AM ^

Regardless of the content of question and answer, his "question" sounded unprofessional. 

Ask the question.  There is a time and place to air his own point of views.