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.