Maryland fans, start getting giddy! LSU fans, start drinking! Gary Crowton is free of the opressive reigns of Les Miles's dictatorial whims, and he's now speaking out about the offensive struggles: It was all LES. Jeff Barker of the Baltimore Sun has more.
In a 50-minute interview, Crowton said bluntly that "No, it wasn't my offense" at LSU and that it would be unfair to make assessments based solely on those four years.
"Were there parts of that offense that were mine? Yeah. The philosophy that Coach Miles had was to be good on defense, be good on special teams and win it in the fourth quarter," Crowton said. "We won a lot of games in the fourth quarter. We beat Auburn twice in the fourth quarter. What it did is it shortened the game. We didn't have a lot of offensive plays. When you look statistically, it wasn't great, but that wasn't our goal. Our goal was to win games. We won 40 in four years."
So it's clear Terrapin fans have nothing to worry about. Now that Les is no longer in Gary's crosshairs, Crowton can start revealing his true gameplan that will take over fifteen to twenty games of gametape for opposing defenses to figure out!
Well, unless Crowton is exaggerating. But he'd never do that right? It's not like Crowton has a history of sputtering offenses whereever he goes, or fanbases that are happier to see him leave rather than sadder to see him stick around. And it doesn't really reflect well on Crowton to stick around and take what Miles was selling him.
Or the answer lies somewhere in the middle, as it usually does. Les dabbled into Gary's playcalling (as head coaches tend to do), the two clashed, and the result was offensive unsightliness. These things tend to happen when strong strange minds meet.
So what does that portend for the LSU-Oregon game? Expect things to be a little messy on offense for the Tigers, because Les is in charge. And when Les is in charge, the Tigers tend to do very curious things when they have the football. Nick Aliotti better be prepared for the eccentricities.
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