The first weekend of college football opened in grand fashion.
All top ten teams won their season opener except for one.
No. 5 Michigan became the first ranked Division I team to lose to a Division I-AA team in history.
Two-time Division I-AA national champions Appalachian State came to “The Big House” and handed Michigan a stunning 34-32 season-opening loss in the most exciting game this weekend.
Can you say goodbye national championship?
Michigan fans can.
And they also want to say goodbye to long time head coach Lloyd Carr, which could be a problem for LSU who has Michigan alum Les Miles as head coach.
Michigan has lost four consecutive bowl games since 2003. This past season’s embarrassing 32-28 loss to USC in the Rose Bowl was Michigan’s third Rose Bowl loss in four years and put Carr on the hot seat.
Carr has 13 seasons in Ann Arbor, Mich., and will no doubt finish this season as the Wolverines head coach. But if Michigan doesn’t beat Ohio State this year and doesn’t win the Big Ten, the Carr era may come to an end.
And with Carr out, Les Miles has to be the No. 1 candidate for the job.
Miles lettered in two seasons with the Wolverines as an offensive lineman in 1974 and 1975.
The third-year LSU coach was an assistant coach under Michigan legend Bo Schembechler from 1980 to 1981 and again from 1987 to 1990.
During his time at Michigan, Miles coached on six Big Ten championship teams and 10 bowl teams.
When LSU athletic director Skip Bertman hired Miles, he thought the Michigan job would be so tempting that he put a clause in Miles’ contract stating that if he traded the purple and gold for the maize and blue he, would have to pay back $1.25 million to the University.
If Carr is fired after this season, Miles will be the first candidate Michigan calls. This should be scary for LSU fans because of Miles’ nostalgia for his alma mater.
No doubt Michigan could make a fine argument for Miles but here are the top ten reasons why leaving LSU would be the biggest mistake of Miles’ career.
10. Mike VI could eat a wolverine with no problem.
9. “Les is More” bumper stickers would have to be changed to “Les is Gone” bumper stickers.
8. There is no Louisiana food in Ann Arbor.
7. A long term successful LSU head coach could run this state … Les Miles for Governor!
6. Nick Saban bolted for a “dream job” that turned out to be a nightmare. I guarantee Saban would rather still be in purple and gold than having to fight Auburn for recruits.
5. Steve Spurrier also left an SEC powerhouse he built. Now, instead of being the Joe Paterno of Florida, he is at South Carolina trying to regain control of the SEC East.
4. $1.25 million is quite a chunk of change to give up even if you are leaving for a big check somewhere else.
3. Miles has a responsibility to his recruits. If freshman safety Chad Jones, who was drafted by the Houston Astros, can pass up Major League Baseball money for LSU, Miles can at least repay him the favor and stay in Baton Rouge.
2. In-state recruiting at LSU is much better than it is at Michigan. There are 61 players from Louisiana on the LSU roster and only 42 from Michigan on the Michigan roster. Securing most of the in-state talent means more to LSU than Michigan because Louisiana high school football has better athletes.
1. LSU is in a position to be a national championship contender every year. Miles has the rare opportunity to become the face of one of the best programs in all of college football. He could be an LSU legend like Bobby Bowden is at Florida State and Joe Paterno is at Penn State. Coaching opportunities like that come once in a lifetime. Saban left in search of something better. Miles should be smarter than that … he at least has more class.
—-Contact Brian Hill at [email protected]