LSU defense gets instant upgrade

Published 7:33 am Sunday, January 3, 2016

By American Press Staff

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">So let’s see if we’ve got this straight now.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Shortly after LSU squeezed off a season- and bowl-high 56 points and an eye-popping 638 yards to finish the year, head coach Les Miles said the Tigers can now get right on that chore of fixing the offense.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Tweaking it, anyway.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">It had to be tempting for Miles to wonder aloud … well, maybe … if they just execute right and …</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">No, don’t even go there.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Apparently, Miles wasn’t fooled into any false sense of security by the user-friendly Texas Tech defense in LSU’s 56-27 Texas Bowl victory.</span>

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<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">He knows it. You know it. The bloggers and message boards surely know it.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">And if they ever get on the same page again, even Athletic Director Joe Alleva and the other leaders of the ham-fisted failed November coup attempt know it.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Miles really likes his job. Loves it.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">He also knows that LSU better get some kind of presentable offensive attack that works against something more taxing than the nation’s 127th ranked defense. Otherwise the Tigers will be right back there against next November, and this time the lynch mob might figure out how to do it without embarrassing the whole university, most of the state and all the ships at sea.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Yes, Miles will look into it.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">It may not be a total overhaul, and it probably doesn’t need to be. And no matter what they do, they’ll still need improved quarterback play.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">It’s surely not as simple as putting offensive coordinator Cam Cameron on the sideline instead of the press box. They’ll need another trick once the newness of that wears off.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Miles indicated while in Houston that the Tigers aren’t about to join the no-huddle, spread generation full time. That’s just not them. But he said the offensive coaches will spend the offseason visiting some of the up-tempo disciples, pick the mad scientists’ brains, maybe open their own eyes.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Miles and Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury seemed to become fast friends in Houston. Maybe a trip to Lubbock would be a start.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">But LSU will at the least add some elements of the 21st century to the existing offense.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Meanwhile, Miles appears to have instantly upgraded his defense with — what? — one phone call.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The defection of defensive coordinator Kevin Steele to Auburn apparently came out of nowhere the day after the Texas Bowl.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Steele was OK, and Miles reportedly tried to talk him out of going to Auburn.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">But, assuming it was short notice, it was a shocker that it took Miles less than two days to replace him with one of the hottest up-and-coming young coaches in the country, Wisconsin’s 39-year-old Dave Aranda.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Never mind that Miles usually takes his sweet time with such matters.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">What a way to ring in the New Year. This is champagne-worthy. Pop the purple corks, let the gold streamers rain.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">This might be Miles’ most impressive hire in his 11 years.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">It’s not likely to be a long-term relationship, maybe two or three years. Aranda, by all accounts, is on the fast track to landing a big-time head coaching job sooner than later.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">LSU might even want to get into the “Head-Coach-in-Waiting” business with him.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">By some reports, Aranda was at the top of Miles’ wish list a year ago when LSU had to replace John Chavis.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Not hard to see why.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">This year Aranda’s Wisconsin defense led the nation in scoring defense (13.1 ppg) and was No. 3 in total defense (268.5.)</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">One-shot wonder?</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Over the last three years — which is Aranda’s tenure with the Badgers — his defenses have given up the fewest yards of any team in the country in that span, not to mention the second fewest points.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“Dave will bring different packages and an attacking style,” Miles said. “Watching his defense play, they are tough to move the ball on … do a great job of getting off the field.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">You could almost call him a defensive version of the hot-shot offensive whiz kids out there.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">He has some truly innovative ideas about stopping offenses. He thinks outside the box.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Former LSU head coach Gerry DiNardo, an analyst for the Big Ten Network, has become particularly intrigued while studying Aranda’s handiwork.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“Dave Aranda calls defenses like most coaches call offensive plays,” DiNardo said on a network segment available on YouTube.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Aranda’s base defense — if he has one — would be the 3-4, which might be a problem this year with LSU thin at linebacker.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">But he’s not married to anything when it comes to fiddling with X’s and O’s, all to create, DiNardo notes, favorable one-on-one mismatches to pressure quarterbacks.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">LSU didn’t bring in a coach like this to run the same ol’ defense.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">And if Miles is willing to change something that hasn’t really been broken, surely he’s seen the light with that prehistoric offense.</span>

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