LSU Tigers took a step forward under Ed Orgeron
By Matt Green
There are 42 days till college football season, which means we only have five more Saturdays without college football. And today we focus on a team that will be breaking in a new head coach, sort of.
Whenever a program fires their head coach, that’s pretty much a tell-tale sign that the season did not go according to plan, and that’s exactly what happened with the LSU Tigers last season. There was talk at the end of the 2015 season that Les Miles would be fired, but LSU decided to bring him back, and even gave him the ever-reliable “vote of confidence”.
If you’re doing the math at home, 100 percent of head coaches that have been given the vote of confidence from their administration have eventually been fired. And while that’s not a real number, you get the idea.
The LSU Tigers started the season 2-2 with a 2-point loss to Wisconsin and a controversial 5-point loss to Auburn. That marked the end of the road for Miles, and Ed Orgeron was named the interim head coach. And that leads us to no. 42 on the Southbound and Down College Football Countdown.
LSU Tigers scored 42 points in Ed Orgeron’s first game as interim Head Coach
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The number one reason Miles’ seat started to heat up in Baton Rouge was because of the offense. For all their talent, the Tigers have struggled mightily in recent years to develop the quarterback position and score points. And Orgeron came right in and appeared to right the ship.
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Orgeron’s first move as interim head coach was firing offensive coordinator Cam Cameron and promoting tight ends coach Steve Ensminger to OC and play-caller.
In the first game with Orgeron as head coach, LSU beat Missouri 42-7 and set a school-record with 634 yards of total offense. They averaged 329 yards and scored 50 total points in their first three games against FBS opponents (Wisconsin, Mississippi State, Auburn) last year.
Under Miles, LSU went 2-2 and scored 21 points per game. Under Orgeron, the Tigers went 6-2 and scored 32 points per game.
This offseason, Orgeron was stripped of his interim status and was named Head Coach. Time will tell if Orgeron can continue this offensive surge, but the LSU Tigers appeared to take a step forward under the new head man.