Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire What do you think about Miles' decision to take a knee with five minutes left

Clearly the game was in the bag in the first quarter....really on Ole Miss's third play, which was a pick six. LSU didn't throw a pass in the second half, benched JJ, benched all the sophomore RBs and just went up the gut with the two freshmen, McGee and Hilliard, and still couldn't stop scoring. Overall, they averaged something like 8 yards a carry.

The Ole Miss fans had all left for the Grove by halftime. Nobody left in the stadium but Tiger fans, basically.

LSU is driving, in spite of itself, handing off up the middle to true freshmen, just wanting to get the clock run out and leave. On a third down at the fifteen, Mettenberg, the third string QB, fakes the run up the middle and runs a bootleg to the one, first and goal.

Les then had him take a knee four times and give Ole Miss the ball on downs. After the game he said there was no reason to take more snaps as the game was decided, but you could have said that when it was 21-0 in the first quarter.

Buzz on fan sites is that Mettenberg called the bootleg when he was supposed to just hand off and Miles got pissed that it looked like he was trying to run it up and called the four kneel downs.

Now, Les is a very nice guy, and I know he did it out of a good heart, but if I was one of those Ole Miss seniors playing D, I think I would have taken it as more of a bitchslap than just shoving the ball in and making it 59-3. Nutt didn't seem upset by it, but.....does anybody else have that response?

I mean, it was never really a game.....it was just watching a tiger play with its food. So why all of a sudden just officially quit on offense?

I do get tired of people getting their underwear stuck in their cracks over violations of the unwritten rules that everyone is supposed to know and everyone "interprets" differently. As you said, the game was over in the first quarter, so why not start shutting things down at that point? If there is supposed to be some point at which a team stops trying to advance the ball in the best way that they can/score, how about having the coach of the team that is being beaten make that determination? He could literally throw in the towel as a signal that the game itself is over and that no matter what happens from that point on, the opposing team has won. Then the winning team could shut things down/send in the clowns/punt backwards, do whatever they could to make up the other team's deficiencies without the fear of losing momentum/facing some sort of miracle come-back and losing the game. Also, why is it always on the offense to make up for the other team's deficiencies? It is never suggested that the defense "take a knee" and let the opposition waltz through them to score. To me, the best solution, if it is felt that a solution is needed , is the acknowledgement by the weaker team that the game is over and at that point, each team work on developing players/working on aspects of their game that they feel need work, and so forth.

Yep, because of the I'm ok your ok generation. Screw it, if your tired of getting your ass whipped then forfeit the game, if you ain't forfeiting it then pour it to them.

It used to be common practice among High School coaches around here to put defensive linemen in the backfield,wide recievers at the O.L. positions etc. when a game had gotten out of hand.

The refs turned a blind eye to the jersey number requirements.

It became a fun deal for both teams.

The problem for coaches is that if you play the game half-heartedly it fosters bad habits. Whatever plays you call you have to go all out. Shoot.....if your third stringers are running over people what's left - put the coaches out there?

Les did what was right. No argument here.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Yep. I didn't like the decision. IMO it was more disrepectful to Ol Miss than running the ball in for another TD would've been.

it's a tough call for certain, have seen it done all different ways

I'm not against charity for the very poor, even poor teams, but ime with young folks you have to be careful doing even that, the clowning and talking often accompany the charity so it negates the impact of what you're trying to do.


but at the college level? if your 3rd stringers are capable of pouring it on, then pour it on.

I agree, cant win this one.

I'm of the thought process that you put in your backups and you might get more conservative and there is no reason to kick fg's up by 40 with 1:00 left, but a knee with 5 minutes? Never seen that before.

But I'd rather a coach do that, then try to rub it in by calling a time out with 30 seconds left to add a FG.

It certainly is refreshing to see some common sense in this thread. Usually a bunch of sour grapes, ultra sensitive products of the PC era will start whining about how unsportsmanlike it is to run up scores. Personally, I think it's unsportsmanlike to be a sore loser.

Agreed, I have no problem with Miles decision in that situation

What the hell is wrong with letting the third stringers play? So what if the score gets run up. Put them in and let them play the way they were trained. If they score, more power to 'em. You never know when injuries will put that third stringer in a starting position and I would prefer to have a confident man standing on the sidelines ready to go.

A coach can't tell a backup to not do their best. It's also tough tell the difference between that and running up the score.

I suspect he wanted to show some respect for the other team. It's not like he was runnin' it up just to get higher in the BCS.

That is exactly what LSU did, most of the game and the score was 52-3 at that point and remained so at games end

If I was on the defense that was getting killed, I think I'd rather have them keep running up the gut. At least that gives me the opportunity to stop them. I'd take the 'taking a knee' as a slap in the face (even though I'd already been slapped all over the field). Not saying what was done was right or wrong, but do understand it was likely done with good intentions.



Last game of the season, my senior year, we were winning by 40 points. My buddy and I asked the coach if he'd put us in at running back because we'd played for 4 years at guard and center, only touching the ball on defense if we picked one off or picked up a fumble.

He agreed. Here we are, my buddy and me, offensive linemen, and we're gaining 7 or 8 yards a carry. Had a pretty good drive going before time ran out.

Their coach was livid. Took administrators to pull our coaches apart at midfield. He took it that our coach was saying 'hey look, these guys are so bad that our lineman can gain yards on them' which wasn't the case at all.

Like was said, damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Exactly. It's the 2nd and 3rd stringers' chance to strut their stuff and gain real game experience. Ideally, the losing team hasn't given up and is still fighting, but was just outmatched by the 1st string. Less than ideal, is a thoroughly dejected losing team that has given up which poses little challenge to the bench warmers. The fault for the latter situation lies with the losing team, not the winning team.

Ole Miss has no cause for complaint. If you're getting beat 52-3 by the other team's benchwarmers, it's time to just shut up and pray for time to expire. Score yet another touchdown, take a knee, whatever, just try to take it gracefully.

Run the end of the bench relatively early like he did. Fundamentals, up the middle, on the ground. Take a knee with short time left. Done.

n football, mixing and matching positions is a great way to get guys hurt. Guys playing at odd positions in which they didn't practice should be left for the lower level teams hs JV- not college.

Blow outs happen. I've been on both sides both playing and coaching many times over.

If I cared at all about LSU and ole miss, i'd not have any complaints on this one.