At his weekly “Lunch with Les” luncheon, LSU coach Les Miles stepped up to the podium surprised.
Sophomore running back Leonard Fournette’s jersey worn during LSU’s 45-24 victory against the University of South Carolina sold for $101,000 on Monday morning. Miles was astonished.
“101,000 dollars,” Miles said. “Am I right? That’s a tremendous piece. It’s good for college football, it’s good for the flood relief and it’s a great piece.”
Then Miles got to business: football.
“So, we didn’t play our best,” Miles said segwaying into then-No. 2 LSU’s 16-30 loss against then-No. 4 University of Alabama. “Our players and coaches know it. Credit Alabama, they played very well.”
The LSU offense slumped and crawled for 182 total yards, compared to Alabama’s 434 yards of total offense, 210 of which came from the Crimson Tide’s bustling junior running back Derrick Henry.
Miles didn’t “point fingers” at any specific part of Saturday’s game as fault for the loss, and he made sure no fingers were pointed at Fournette.
“For Leonard Fournette it certainly wasn’t his fault in any way,” Miles said. “We didn’t get him loose. Safeties were making tackles and they were making them very close to the line of scrimmage.”
Alabama’s offense possessed the ball for nearly 40 minutes of the 60-minute battle, which grew tiresome for the LSU defense, Miles said.
“We really just could not get in sync offensively,” Miles said. “We were on the field 20 minutes offensively, they were on the field 40 minutes defensively. So at any point in time that you’re in a position like that, you’re going to be taken advantage of because of the time that you’re on the field.”
Miles then moved to the Tigers’ next game against the University of Arkansas (5-4, 3-2 Southeastern Conference) at 6:15 p.m. on Nov. 14 at Tiger Stadium.
LSU (7-1, 4-1 SEC) is set to face a snowballing Razorback squad, which defeated then-No. 18 the University of Mississippi 53-52 Saturday after a sequence of jarring lateral plays possibly saved its season.
Miles praised Arkansas for the late-game success the team displayed lately, along with a short-and-sweet scouting report.
“Bret Bielema has got them playing very well,” Miles said. “They’re big up front on both sides. They have big time [junior] running back, Alex Collins, with a thousand yards plus. And [senior quarterback] Brandon Allen, he’s ranked number two in the SEC in passing efficiency. He’s thrown for 2476 yards and 21 touchdowns. Arkansas’ averaging 35 points and 472 yards per game. Second in the conference. Rushing at 192 [yards per game] and throwing it for 280 [yards per game].”
Shortly after, Miles said sophomore fullback John David Moore will be out for the rest of the season.
But, he tried to send an uplifting message to LSU fans after the breaking news.
“Well, obviously, one of our best fullbacks is no longer with us,” Miles said. “But the good news is, is that [freshman fullback] Bry’Kiethon Mouton is coming on, and we’ll have a good group there.”
Miles was questioned about his thoughts on the protest of University of Missouri students, and football program surrounding the racial equality controversy the university president was allegedly upholding.
Missouri players refused to participate in practices, games or team activities until then-university President Tim Wolfe resigned.
Wolfe resigned on Monday morning.
“There’s a social responsibility that if something is happening awry, that you, in this country, you stand your ground,” Miles said. “Our country was built on the ability to protest and to do so in a right and straightforward manner, to make their expressions known and their feelings known.”
“I think to protest is a, the right of our country, and I think that there are those things you do and don’t protest.”