64 Seconds of Infamy

Now that my wide-eyed, mouth-open-in-total-disbelief expression has faded, I can now rationally discuss what was the worst 64 seconds of time and game management in the history of college football, the ending of the LSU-Ole Miss debacle.
As a youth coach, I try to impart foundational lessons to my players. One of the most basic being, when you're in the game and on the field, you must think one-step ahead, and be prepared for your responsibility. "Before the pitch, if the ball is hit to you, where will you go with it?" I ask.
Great players and great coaches aren't robots, they are game managers ready for all circumstances using their God-given physical talents and their disciplined preparation.
First of all, for 58:44 of the game, LSU was outhit, out-hustled, out-schemed (aka out coached) and overall, just simply out-played.
But as the Fat Lady was stepping onto the stage, LSU got lucky and inexplicably Ole Miss, especially McClusker, seemed to purposely avoid recovering LSU's onside kick.
Then one very good wide-reciever bubble screen and 26 yards later, the horrific unraveling of a miracle comeback began.
LSU fans were salivating: 64 seconds remaining to victory, at the Ole Miss 32 yard line.. without a single-yard more gained we line up for a game-winning 49-yard FG by Jasper, who's already nailed a 50-yarder at this same endzone.
Hand the ball off, run two up-the-gut plays, kick winning FG, go home and prepare for Razorback game next week, right?
Wrong, here's where the Mad Hatter Miles went mad.
1st down: Jefferson drops back to pass (WHAT!!!).. incomplete.
Freeze time.
(Every coach on the planet tells their QB right now: "Son, whatever you do don't take a sack! Step back, do your read, not open, throw it away!")
2nd down: Jefferson take 3-step drop to pass again (ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDING ME!!!), slides back 2 steps too much right into outside rushers path.. SACK!
3rd down: Jefferson throws off-target bubble screen to Ridley, drawing him backward, tackled immediately... (CALL TIMEOUT!!!CALL TIMEOUT!!!)
26 seconds...Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock.... Timeout LSU with 9 seconds remaining.
17 painful seconds run off for absolutely no reason. 17 seconds.
Okay, sanity will come back to Miles' planet right? He'll tell Jefferson we're going to throw a Hail Mary, if it's caught outside endzone, we'll :
1) have a quick snap play called to throw it again to endzone or
2) we'll rush Field Goal unit onto field and kick game-winning FG.
Sorry, fans, Miles went with option #3: none of the above, and no plan at all.
Toliver miraculously catches jump-ball with 1 second.
“There was a lot of confusion on the sideline, and we didn’t know what to do,” Jefferson said. "When Terrance caught it, I thought the field-goal unit was going to come out and kick the field goal and we were going to win the game.”
"Confusion on the sideline".. ya think?!
In the bedlam, Jefferson goes deer-in-the-headlights and then beyond comprehension, "clocks it," or in plain-speak takes the snap and grounds the ball, effectively ending the game.
With some justification, Jefferson is getting thrown under the bus for this brain-dead decision. Hundreds of games have to teach you to know not to do this!
But to his credit, Miles fell on the sword today at his post-mortem, completely taking the blame for this 64 second debacle.
Manning up today though doesn't erase the complete gameday incompetence Miles exhibited this past Saturday.

Excuse me Mr. Wizard, do you have a minute???

As a Hornets fan, at this point early in the 2009-2010 season, I want to close my eyes, click my Nike tennis heels together and go back two years.
An all-too familiar thing happened again last night against the Phoenix Suns; in total frustration, I turned off the game at halftime.
The 20-point defecit, the smiling faces of Suns' players as they rollicked unimpeded throught the lane... sleep was a much better option.
West - missed layups and zero effort to block anyone out.
Devin Brown - true colors... awful all-around. Wild drives to hoop that make you want to scream.
Peja - 0 points? Are you serious? And on one wide-open three-pointer, he shot an air-ball.
Posey - it's like he's aged 10 years in one off-season. The once "defensive stopper" and hussle player now has cement in his shoes because he is getting smoked on defense.
When 2 of your "stars" - Peja and Posey - literally give you NOTHING after 9 games, you have to re-consider playing time.
biggest shocker is the Hornets total lack of commitment on defensive end.
For a team to shoot 70% in a half, you have to almost intentionally NOT play defense.
The Suns are good yeah, but come on, they were shooting friggin' layups!!!
Defense takes intensity and heart, and it appears right now, the Hornets need a visit to the wizard for both.

Do they give a "it"????

At the Hornets' last home game, Chris Paul played the Toronto Raptors.
Okay, multiple other alleged Hornet players were on the court with Paul, but Paul was the only player anyone would testify under oath that actually gave any real effort.
Byron Scott said about his team's second-half effort, "For the life of me, I can't understand why we came out with that type of energy."
In cliche'sport-speak, energy is synonomous with motivation and effort.
Everyday fans will scream that Scott needs to or didn't motivate his team.
For all you non-athletes and Byron Scott haters, last night's pathetic second-half performance wasn't about coaching.
Agin, for the hard of reading: repeat, last night's loss was NOT about coaching.
What it WAS about was effort or, as Scott said, energy. Really about the lack of effort and energy.
Ask any knowledgable person (unfortunately this excludes more than 90% of anyone reading this post) and they will tell you that coaches should not have to motivate professional athletes.
Motivation/energy/effort comes from within, from the individual.
Paul is the poster child for intensity/motivation/effort/energy. Ditto Brees.
Do you think Scott or Payton has to "motivate" these two?
Motivation is part of the "it" you hear scouts and coaches mention so often.
Armstrong, JuJu, MoPete, Peja --- all either thru age or lack of basketball IQ do not have "it."
Scott could strap to each of their heads a tape recorder, turn the volume dial clockwise to the max, and blare into their ears, with screaming, yelling, motivational speeches, etc... and you wouldn't see one more lick of motivation. Why? Because these guys dont' have "it."
Yes, ultimately Bower and the Hornets management must take blame for assembling this group, but the bottom line is each Hornet player must look in the mirror, evaluate their commitment to winning and giving this organization their money's worth of "it."