In 2007, Les Miles won a national championship despite losing two regular season conference games to teams, Kentucky and Arkansas, that finished with a combined 7-9 record in the SEC. Later, Miles would memorably argue that those overtime losses weren't real losses because his team hadn't lost yet in regulation. As if that weren't enough, Miles's entire championship season was a high-wire act. LSU won seven SEC games, five of them by a touchdown or less. Along the way Miles burnished his reputation as the most confident coach in America.
And the luckiest.
In fact the old cliche, fortune favors the bold, has never had a finer example than Leslie Miles.
As LSU-Florida looms and the Tim Tebow health watch drives ESPN to fits of reportorial glee, one man remains unconcerned with Tebow's health. That's Les Miles. Why? Because Les, the man Forrest Gump would have grown up to become if he'd been born in Michigan instead of Alabama, isn't impacted by the maelstroms that swirl around him. The world of Les Miles is always uncomplicated. He and his damn fine football team are going to win no matter who they play and what the circumstances are.
Doubt me? As the latest big game looms, let's take a look at Les Miles's top 10 ridiculous and improbable wins at LSU.
10. LSU 35, Arizona State 31, 2005
In the debut of the Les Miles era, the Tigers trail 17-7 as the fourth quarter begins. Enter Miles' magic hat. First, LSU blocks two punts and returns both for touchdowns. Suddenly the Tigers lead 21-17.
In a wild fourth quarter, Arizona State storms back to take a 31-28 lead. Facing a 4th down from the ASU 39, Miles does what any coach would do, goes for the touchdown. JaMarcus Russell hums a 39 -yard strike to Early Doucet and the Tigers win 35-31.
9. LSU 26, Auburn 21, 2008
With 1:08 left on the clock Jarrett Lee hits Brandon LaFell for a 19-yard score. By the end of the 2008 season, this pass will seem even more remarkable.
Yep, Lee won a game with a touchdown pass. And that's not a touchdown for the defense returning his pass.
Honestly, the marriage of Les Miles to JaMarcus Russell and Ryan Perrilloux is among the greatest sports marriages of all time. At least when it comes to comedy. Supreme talent meets supreme confidence. It was like Beethoven with Donald Trump as a publicist. Well, at least in the case of Perrilloux what Beethoven would have been if he'd had riverboat gambling to contend with.
8. LSU 23, Ole Miss, 20 (OT) 2006
Down 20-6 with nine minutes to play in the fourth quarter, LSU stages a remarkable comeback against Ed Orgeron's 3-7 Ole Miss Rebels. It begins with this double spin completion from JaMarcus Russell.
With 14 seconds left JaMarcus Russell hits Dwayne Bowe on a five-yard touchdown pass. The game is now tied 20-20. Proving that nothing comes easy in the Les Miles era, Ole Miss blocks the extra point to send the game into overtime.
LSU kicks a field goal to win 23-20.
7. LSU 30, Mississippi State 26, 2009
Mississippi State faces a third down and less than a football length for the go-ahead score. Already State is coming off four turnovers. But all they need is a few inches for the win. On third down State's Tyson Lee attempts a pass. His receiver is wide open, but LSU's safety bats the ball down in a wild and frenzied blitz.
On 4th down, LSU stuffs Tyson Lee on the quarterback sneak. For an inexplicable reason, Lee allows his head to cross the goal line without extending the football.
Everyone who watches LSU games knows the reason is because Lee ran into the forcefield that is Les Miles's good fortune.
Travis has become enamored of several objects, phrases or events which he frequenly references in the column. Among the most frequent:
'Bama Bangs - a term coined by Travis to refer to southern men's hairstyles that feature prominent bangs for no apparent reason. Brodie Croyle and John Parker Wilson are oft-cited violators of 'Bama Bangs rules.
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When Clay Travis, acclaimed author of Dixieland Delight, decided to spend the 2008 season up close and personal with UT football, he—and every other college football aficionado—thought he was in for a rollicking ride with one of the leading contenders for the national title. After all, when the Vols kicked off the season on September 1, the defending SEC East champions were ranked 18th in the country. As head coach Phillip Fulmer prepared for the game, he reflected upon a coaching career that included an astounding 147 victories, two SEC championships, and a national title. With 34 years at UT under his belt as both a player and coach, the Tennessee native had just signed a contract extension that projected to keep him at the university long enough to become the winningest coach in program history.
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The newly favored man is not really a man at all, but a hairless, effeminate, germ-fearing, non-meat-eating, exfoliating, wristband-wearing woman of the worst order. We as men are told that we must embrace the sacred feminine in ourselves, even if it doesn't actually exist, and become the very quintessence of woman, plus penises. This situation is untenable. This trend must stop.
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Clay Travis is the only former student manager in the history of college athletics to marry an NFL cheerleader. He managed to pull this off despite an irrational affinity for the television shows Dawson's Creek and My Super Sweet 16. While being raised in Nashville, Tenn., Travis developed a healthy obsession with college sports and Alyssa Milano. As a teenager his greatest accomplishment was taking a doo-rag wearing Luke Duke (balling as Tom Wopat) to the hole at the Nashville YMCA.
In the midst of a stellar legal career during which he specialized in rewarding the unjust and punishing the oppressed, Travis began writing for CBS Sports's SPiN section in September 2005...
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