SEC Football: Momentum, who has ‘Big Mo’ and who is stuck with ‘No Mo’
By Ronald Evans
LSU Football and Ed Orgeron – ‘Big Mo’
There are many stories about why LSU fired Les Miles, the most successful Bengal Tiger coach ever. Two SEC football championships, one national championship and a 116-36 record in 12 seasons was not good enough.
Many LSU fans and the administration were convinced Miles refused to adapt to offensive changes in college football. The administration reached that conclusion in 2015 but delayed action because of vocal support by pro-Miles fans.
After the 18-13 loss to Auburn last September, Miles was canned. Les’ poor clock management at the end of the Auburn game led to the loss. It was the excuse Joe Alleva needed to cast Les aside.
It did not take much for interim coach Ed Orgeron to win the LSU fans. The team embraced Coach O’s enthusiasm and performed well, going 6-2 the rest of the season allowing Orgeron to discard the interim tag.
SEC football road wins in November and a bowl victory overshadowed the tough loss to Florida in Baton Rouge. The wins were good rather than great: Arkansas; Texas A&M and Louisville. As important, the losses were to the two teams who played for the SEC Championship.
In total, those five games define ‘Big Mo’ for LSU. LSU has a season opener against BYU. BYU is no pushover but the LSU defense should be enough to gain the win.
The following four games: Chattanooga; at Mississippi State; Syracuse and Troy should push the LSU 2017 record to 5-0. If so, ‘Big Mo’ will have grown to a Cajun Frenzy.
Week six is a trip to the Swamp. By that time, LSU may prove what most already suspect. The Bengal Tigers still do not have a winning quarterback. If (and it is a big IF) Florida has gelled around a quarterback by then, LSU’s ‘Big Mo’ could crash in Gainesville.