In the wake of No. 13 LSU’s loss to Ole Miss, coach Les Miles admitted clock management mistakes and upcoming changes to defensive personnel in his weekly press conference Monday afternoon.
Miles admits having poor clock management
At the end of the loss to Ole Miss, Miles once again struggled with clock management in a late-game situation.
With a little more than 20 seconds left on the clock and Ole Miss setting up for a game winning field goal, LSU waited to call a timeout until there were six seconds left on the clock, effectively killing any chance of a game-winning drive.
Miles said he wishes he had called the timeout immediately, saving the Tigers 20 seconds. It was ultimately Miles’ decision to wait and call that timeout with only six seconds left on the clock.
Miles debated with his coordinators whether to call the timeout immediately and set up the block, or to let the clock run in an attempt to “ice” the kicker before the field goal attempt.
“Now, I look at the back end of the game, and on the field goal, they drive the field, they’re lining up to kick the field goal, and the initial strategy was going to be to ice the kicker and block it. Well, I liked it,” Miles said. “I figured that I’d save the timeout for that, and then I said, ‘Hey, wait a minute, we have already blocked this team.’ We could not be in any better position to go onto the field, and at that point in time, I wished I had every one of those seconds back.”
Young defensive players could see the field Saturday
Several young defensive players have impressed Miles in recent weeks and he expects those players to play a big role going forward.
Miles named freshmen Kendell Beckwith, Tre’Davious White and Rashard Robinson in addition to sophomore linebacker Lamar Louis as young guys who could make an impact sooner rather than later.
White has been a starter since replacing sophomore corner Jalen Collins in the Kent State game and leads the team with six pass breakups.
“Yeah, we like Beckwith and we like Lamar Louis, who played awfully well [against Ole Miss],” Miles said. “Do other guys get more snaps? You betcha. It doesn’t mean that we’re wholesale change and it doesn’t mean that we’re throwing anybody out. What it does mean is some of these young guys played well enough to deserve playing time, and they’re going to get it.”
Beckwith has shown much-needed versatility, playing both middle linebacker and showing prowess rushing the passer. The 6-foot-3, 246 pound Beckwith has been credited with 10 tackles, a sack and a forced fumble in limited playing time this season.
Miles says motivation won’t be an issue going forward
With the Tigers behind the eight-ball in the Southeastern Conference standings, motivation to compete won’t be an issue for LSU for the rest of the season, Miles said.
“This football team has the ability to win and play against any team remaining on our schedule, and we need to recognize that. We need to play like that, and frankly, that’s what gets me up and sends me to the building everyday,” Miles said.
Miles waved off the notion of freshman quarterback Anthony Jennings starting to see playing time to accelerate his development, saying while Jennings might get playing time with the first team against Furman, he expects senior quarterback Zach Mettenberger to continue to play the majority of the snaps.
“Our second team quarterback is always that guy that’s in position to play and play a lot of football should something happen, and we would like to see Anthony Jennings specifically,” Miles said.