Les Miles saves job as LSU beats Texas A&M to cap emotional week
By Hayden Hyde
Les Miles was carried off the field after beating Texas A&M, but the biggest upset was Miles being retained as head coach.
Before the game, Les MIles gave the crowd at Tiger Stadium a tip of the hat while he received a standing ovation. After the game, he was carried off the field by his team and singing the fight song in an emotional post game interview.
After he got inside the locker room, Miles was informed that he will stay on as LSU head coach with ESPN’s Joe Schad saying on SportsCenter on Saturday night the decision to keep him was made during the third quarter of LSU’s 19-7 win over Texas A&M.
It didn’t look pretty in the least, but it was LSU who’s offense stumbling into more points Saturday night and it was because of Heisman candidate Leonard Fournette who had his best game in a month and finished with 159 yards and a touchdown. They weren’t easy yards, either. His longest run went for 23 yards as he wore the A&M defense down and got the dirty yards late in the game.
Texas A&M started off flat with some major special teams mistakes, which lead to two LSU field goals. The Tigers failed to capitalize in the red zone and had to settle for field goal tries multiple times, but they missed three of them, which kept the Aggies in the game.
Brandon Harris looked miserable for LSU, he completed 7 of 21 passes for 83 yards and an interception. All of his passes were high and off-target, Harris rarely gave his receivers a chance to make a play. To put Harris’ play in perspective, Fournette led the Tigers in receiving with four catches for 43 yards–all were checkdowns and quick dump passes.
As great as Fournette was tonight, LSU may not have won if it weren’t for freshman running back Derrius Guice. The Baton Rouge native ran for 73 yards on 10 carries and changed the game with a 50-yard touchdown run.
The win only counts as one in the record books, but after two weeks of constant chatter about his firing being inevitable and his $15 million buyout not a deal-breaker, the win means at least another year of Miles, and that’s great for LSU and their pursuit of a SEC title in 2016 with Fournette leading the way.