Do what it takes to achieve victory. I’ve heard LSU coach Les Miles utter that phrase a thousand times.
It’s the staple of the LSU football program.
What better time to snatch victory out of your opponents’ hands than against hated Ole Miss on Senior Day?
Miles could care less about the 35 points or the 463 yards LSU gave up to the Rebel Black Bears. Walking off the field after a win and singing the Alma Mater arm-in-arm with his players is all that mattered to the Mad Hatter.
Saturday night exemplified just how much respect Miles has for his players and vice versa.
It would have been so easy for LSU to quit. So easy to give up on a season when the rest of the country had already written it off.
Not LSU. And definitely not on Senior Day.
“The moral of this game was things in life that don’t come easy but if you keep on fighting towards the end things will go your way,” said LSU junior defensive end Sam Montgomery. “Never give up. That’s something that our seniors, young guys, guys in the middle, never did.”
Saturday’s storyline wasn’t running back Jeremy Hill’s three touchdowns or Odell Beckham Jr.’s 89-yard punt return that reminded LSU fans of Billy Cannon’s run on Halloween Night in 1959. It was Miles’ opening statement of his post-game news conference.
I learned a quick lesson after listening to Miles speak for 10 minutes after the Tigers’ victory — don’t go after one of his seniors before his final home game.
The consensus among media members was Les’ emotional speech was in response to a column written by a Baton Rouge sportswriter about how big of a bust senior wide receiver Russell Shepard has been in an LSU uniform.
As much as Les likes to play the charade he doesn’t pay attention to what the media produces about his team, he reads it all.
So when Miles got his chance to take up for the former five-star recruit and the rest of his senior class, he made sure we wouldn’t soon forget it.
“I went to the field with 16 or 17 seniors, and everyone’s contributions to our team is noteworthy,” Miles said. “Every one of them, whether he is a scout team player or a guy that was highly recruited and played his butt off.”
The LSU football team is a family. If you go after one of them, you go after them all.
He has every right to back up the young men who have given him their all for their entire collegiate careers.
The 2012 LSU seniors have plenty to write home about. They were ranked in the top 25 every game and were a part of 22 straight wins in Tiger Stadium.
In his last game in Death Valley, sixth-year senior Josh Dworacyzk knew what needed to be done to get the approval of his head coach.
“We went out there and got the victory. That’s what he’s always all about, make sure you get the victory,” Dworacyzk said. “We made sure we sang as loud as we possibly could have in the locker room. It was special.”
Dworacyzk, Shepard, Lavar Edwards and all the 15 seniors on the Tigers’ roster need to be proud of their careers wearing the purple and gold. The fact that Miles got so emotional when talking about a group of players who laid everything on the line each Saturday shows every class is important and special to him.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a walk-on or a blue-chip. Miles will defend his players till the end.
I’d sure want to have Les in my corner. Wouldn’t you?
LSU head coach Les Miles shakes Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze's hand on Saturday, Nov. 17, 2012 after the 41-35 victory over Ole Miss in Tiger Stadium.
