Following LSU coach Les Miles’ first three-game skid during his tenure at LSU, the last week of the regular season was filled with speculation about his job security. But as he led the Tigers out of the tunnel and huddled with them underneath the uprights of the north end zone the same way he’s done before every home game for 11 years, he received as much support from the home crowd as ever.
“What a joy it’s been for me to lead a team into Tiger Stadium, on to that field, in front of those people,” Miles said.
The Tigers (8-3, 5-3 Southeastern Conference) went on to defeat Texas A&M University, 19-7, with sophomore running back Leonard Fournette rushing for 159 yards, passing Charles Alexander as the LSU single-season rushing record holder. Freshman running back Derrius Guice also found success on the ground, rushing for 73 yards.
Though it is unknown whether Saturday’s win sparked LSU Athletic Director Joe Alleva to take the podium at the postgame news conference, he assured fans Miles wasn’t going anywhere.
“Les Miles is our football coach, and he will continue to be our football coach,” Alleva said.
The victory, and perhaps the redemption of Miles, was due in no small part to LSU’s defensive performance.
The defense gave up more than 250 yards in each of the first 10 games, allowing more than 100 rushing yards in six games and 200 passing yards in five games.
Saturday night in Death Valley was a different story.
LSU held Texas A&M sophomore quarterback Kyle Allen to 161 yards and a touchdown passing.
LSU’s front seven put pressure on Allen in the backfield, forcing 13 incompletions and notching four sacks. Junior linebacker Kendell Beckwith also teamed with sophomore linebacker Devin Voorhies to force an Allen fumble with the Tigers’ back against the wall as the Aggies were in scoring position.
Freshman defensive back Donte Jackson intercepted a pass from Allen late in the fourth quarter to end what appeared to be a scoring drive from the Aggies. The pick marked Jackson’s first interception of his career.
The greatest success came from the rushing defense. Aggie senior running back Tra Carson, who rushed for more than 100 yards in six games in 2015, was held to 69 yards.
“I went up to [senior linebacker Deion Jones] and told him we can’t have them running the ball on us,” Beckwith said. “I think we did a pretty good job of taking that away from them. We were just trying to be dominating. I told Debo I was going to try to send him out with a win and we did that.
The last game of the regular season also doubled as senior night for Jones — who picked up three solo tackles, eight assisted tackles and an assisted sack — and 13 other seniors.
Jones said ending LSU’s three-game losing streak and getting the win in his last game as a Tiger was exactly what he envisioned for his senior night.
“We buckled down and realized the little mistakes hurt us,” Jones said. “A lot of people took it personally. We’re not a three-in-a-row loss team. We took it to heart, and we went after it this week. We’re some sore losers. We hate losing. It feels good to turn it around.”
As for the chaos surrounding Miles prior to the game, none of the players feel it overshadowed the team as a whole.
Junior cornerback Tre’Davious White said Miles always focuses on the team and instills that mindset into his players.
“It’s always been about the team. It’s always going to be about the team,” Beckwith said. “It was definitely a distraction, but it was something we had to block out and just play some LSU football.”