Scout.com: Three & Out: SEC Thoughts, News & Notes 11/29

Three & Out: SEC Thoughts, News & Notes 11/29

This story originally published on CollegeFootballNews.com

Les Miles got it right on Saturday night

By Barrett Sallee

CollegeFootballNews.com
Posted Nov 29, 2009

| More

CFN SEC Blogger Barrett Sallee shares three thoughts, comments or observations about Week 13 in the SEC.

By: Barrett Sallee

The Week 13 wrap up edition of Three & Out takes a look at lessons learned in Baton Rouge, the Bulldogs' escape from Atlanta and one of college football's greatest rivalries. If you expected to read about Tim Tebow's final home game, you are in the wrong place. Although I'm sure Verne and Gary's four-and-a-half hour love-fest from Saturday afternoon is replaying somewhere on the CBS family of networks.

GET OUT THERE AND KICK IT
Last week, LSU head coach Les Miles took major heat after his woefully horrendous clock management at the end of the Tigers loss to Ole Miss. Apparently Miles was listening.

With nine seconds left in regulation against Arkansas on Saturday, down three points, Miles ran his field goal team out without hesitation. The result: a Josh Jasper 41-yard game-tying field goal to send the game into overtime – a game in which LSU would eventually win on a missed field goal from Arkansas kicker Alex Tejada. Funny how that works.

In the past, Miles might have taken a shot to get better field position. But what kind of crazy man would run the risk of a sack? The Mad Hatter apparently learned his lesson from last week.

Baby steps.

With Miles' on-the-job training now progressing nicely, it will be interesting to see how the Tigers approach what's likely to be a Capital One Bowl berth. Last season, LSU came to the Chick-Fil-A Bowl in Atlanta and devoured the favored Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.

The LSU offense was putrid all season long. The Tigers managed nine wins in the 2009 regular season with the 11th ranked offense in the SEC and 108th ranked offense in the nation. Fans have been calling for stud true freshman quarterback Russell Shepard to toss a pass or two. With nothing except pride to play for in the bowl game, expect LSU to try to establish some sort of identity on offense for the 2010 campaign, because there certainly wasn't one in 2009.

BULLDOGS ESCAPE ATLANTA
The awful play-calling that Les Miles left in Oxford apparently migrated a bit east to Atlanta, and reared its ugly head on the sideline of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.

Down six, with 1:53 remaining on Georgia's 46 yard line, Tech head coach Paul Johnson called for four straight passes. The disastrous sequence culminated with a Damaryius Thomas drop on fourth-and-10 that would have earned the Jackets a new set of downs. The drop sealed the 30-24 win for Georgia, earning them their 8th win this decade over their intra-state rivals.

"Well, the first one was a wheel route that we thought because we had thrown the out to the inside receiver that we had the chance to make a play.” said Georgia Tech head coach Paul Johnson. “That was a few feet away from being a catch at the two-yard line. The one to Anthony Allen was a stretch route that he broke across the middle on and he clearly had the guy beat, but we didn't make a play. On the last one, we just didn't make a play. [Demaryius Thomas] made plays all year and without him; we wouldn't even have been in the game. There's no one play you can look at.”

Nope, there's four.

Memo to Paul Johnson – you're a running team. Thomas may take some heat for the drop that cost the Jackets the game, but he should never have been in that position to begin with. This is a Georgia Tech team that earlier in the year, took down then-No. 4 Virginia Tech with only one pass completion for the entire game.

The decision to throw the ball four straight times with plenty of time remaining in decent field position is perplexing to say the least. Georgia Tech got away from what they do best. Despite being out-played all game long, the play-calling on the last drive is what cost the Jackets a chance at beating the Bulldogs.

RIVALRY RESTORED
For the majority of this decade, the Iron Bowl has been less of a rivalry and more of an end-of-the-season coronation. The Auburn Tigers had been the dominant program in the state of Alabama since the Dennis Franchione era at Alabama. Then, in 2008, the pendulum swung wildly to the west. With one 36-0 shutout, the balance of power shifted to Tuscaloosa – or so it appeared.

When something swings wildly one way, it usually swings back quickly. That pendulum moved significantly closer to center on Friday afternoon.

Auburn's effort in the 26-21 loss to Alabama is an indicator that the best rivalry in college sports is competitive again for the first time in nearly 10 years. The Tigers came into the Iron Bowl thin on defense, and physically whipped the undefeated Crimson Tide for 58-and-a-half minutes.

“Only the strong survive,” said Alabama head coach Nick Saban after the game. “But the strong still get their ___ whipped.”

There are no moral victories in rivalry games – especially in the Iron Bowl. But the standing of the two participants can be judged. After Friday's game, it's apparent that the coaching and talent level of both teams are much more even than many people in the state thought following the 36-0 shutout of last year. Nick Saban definitely has the Tide rollin', but Gene Chizik's Tigers aren't too far behind.

Barrett Sallee covers the SEC for www.CollegeFootballNews.com. He can be reached at barrettsallee@gmail.com, or on Twitter at http://twitter.com/BSallee_CFN

Related Stories

LSU/Arkansas Highlights
-by TigerSportsDigest.com Nov 29, 2009

Porter Introduced at Memphis
-by TigerSportsDigest.com Nov 29, 2009

LSU/Arkansas Photo Gallery
-by TigerSportsDigest.com Nov 29, 2009

Free Email Newsletter
Don't miss any news or features from BamaMag.com. Subscribe to our newsletter to have our newest articles emailed to you on a daily or weekly basis. Click here for a list of all Team Newsletters.
Daily Format	Weekly Digest

MAGAZINE COVERAGE

Places to go:

Things to do:

Things to buy:

Things to know:

MAGAZINE COVERAGE
Get the 2012 Recruiting Yearbook and a full year of 'BAMA Magazine with an Annual Total Access Pass.