No telling what Orgeron has in mind for offense

Published 7:00 pm Monday, November 27, 2017

BATON ROUGE —Wait a minute here.

LSU had just beaten Texas A&M 45-21, completing an impressive regular season turnaround to finish 9-3, still with an option on a 10th win in a bowl game.

The Texas A&M game had far more drama than it probably should have had, yet if it worked out fine.

But at times it was hard to tell if this was Ed Orgeron at his postgame press conference or just another radio talk show caller weighing to nitpick-complain about an offense that just hung 601 yards and 45 points on the Aggies.

Never mind that it would have been 611 or so yards and cracked a half-a-hundred points if the Tigers hadn’t taken a knee in the final minute from point-blank range, a professional courtesy often extended among coaches.

OK, granted, there are some things to quibble with offensively.

LSU started the season with a lot of intrigue with a new offense, a lot of big plays and some frustrations in the red zone.

A lot happened in between, but the Tigers ended the regular season with a lot of intrigue with the offense, a lot of big plays and some frustrations in the red zone.

It’s complicated, of course, by the way the Tigers have turned short field goals into hold-your-breath, cover-your-eyes moments that are eventually going to send all of Tiger Stadium to one big cardiac unit.

A bowl game shy of one year into the Matt Canada offensive experiment, I’m not sure if LSU fans know what to think about the mad-scientist creation.

More importantly, it’s hard to get a read on what Orgeron thinks about it.

Orgeron’s background is defense, but he seems to stay out of defensive coordinator Dave Aranda’s way more than Canada’s.

And at times it does appear that Canada can get too cute with his play toy — especially when it doesn’t work.

Not the first time, but Orgeron made no bones in wondering aloud if a third-and-inches situation from the A&M 8-yard line was the proper time to dial up another jet sweep. Hindsight said the Tigers lost a yard and settled for a missed field goal.

“We should have run the (quarterback) sneak there,” Orgeron said.

Orgeron insinuated that Canada may be pursuing a head coaching job.

“Everybody wants to be a head coach,” Orgeron said. “I hope he gets the opportunity to get it.”

Interesting.

There are approximately 4,000 big-time college head coaching jobs that are either open are coming open very soon.

All manner of traditional and social media are working the cases 24 hours a day, cranking out rumor widgets at an impressive pace.

There are still a lot of dominoes to fall once this merry-go-round hits full tilt.

But if Canada’s name has come up for any of them, it was hidden back in the nether reaches of the Internet.

But it would fit the pattern.

Canada has had success wherever he’s been, which is an extensive list.

Yet this decade he’s had five jobs, and a three-year hitch at North Carolina State was the only spot he stayed more than one year.

Hard to tell if he gets itchy feet or wears out his welcome.

Even harder to tell if he and Orgeron are really on the same page, despite the truce they came to as a big part of LSU’s turnaround.

Questions about their working relationship were at the center of the firestorm surrounding the Troy disaster. To their credit, the accord they reached was a key to getting LSU turned around, winning six of the last seven.

Orgeron admitted, somewhat sheepishly, that he stepped in and meddled with the offense before the Troy game, insisting that Canada simplify the myriad shifts and motions in deference to such a young offensive line.

When LSU didn’t score a point in the first half against Troy, Canada got all his bells and whistles back at halftime and at least mounted a (failed) comeback in the 24-21 loss.

The next week came the come-to-Jesus meeting with Orgeron, Canada  and athletic director Joe Alleva.

Canada has apparently had free reign ever since, even if not immune to second-guessing.

It’s been an interesting offense, certainly different from the Les Miles days. It looks to have real potential for a one-year start-up.

The big question, however, with Orgeron so willing to support Canada in his quest for a vague, unnamed head coaching job, is if this offense is really what Orgeron sees LSU doing going forward.

Is he really convinced?

“It all depends,” Orgeron said when asked if LSU would keep the Canada offense even if it lost its coordinator to another job. “I have in mind what we want on offense also. I’ve been at some pretty good schools, pretty good offenses.”

Hmmmm.

One thing for sure: LSU’s bowl lull subplot has pretty well identified itself early.