FanHouse SkipBertman

Props to our own Brian Cook, who has stood sentinel over the Les Miles-to-Michigan watch since about mid-September, for digging this up over at MGoBlog. It's a quote from the website of Lafayette, Louisiana newspaper The Daily Advertiser, in which LSU athletic director Skip Bertman addresses the possibility that Les Miles could be offered and accept the head coaching position at Michigan before LSU plays in the BCS championship game (should they make it that far). The Daily Advertiser says:

LSU athletic director Skip Bertman said if such a scenario develops, he would want Miles to coach the Tigers in the national championship game before leaving for Michigan.

"If it were to be a national championship and the advantage for LSU to win, it would be my opinion that I'd want the coach (Miles) there to win the game," he said. "But I think that the decision to be made is too premature to even talk about for something like that."

The idea that LSU have their team and coaching staff intact through the championship and Michigan could get their man is a scenario Cook calls "the optimal solution for all parties." Of course, he could be forgetting about the LSU fans who actually want to keep Miles as their coach; they might not see all of this as "optimal."

Back to Bertman's quote, is it an off-the-cuff remark being taken out of context? Or is it a message to Michigan that there's a way LSU wants the situation handled, and these are the rules? While Cook seems to be leaning toward the latter, and Ryan Ferguson thinks it's a done deal, I'm taking the former point of view, as I don't believe LSU will let their coach go without a fight.

On the other hand, maybe the fight has already happened behind the scenes, and LSU lost.

At least that's what can be inferred from LSU athletic director Skip Bertman, who was "noticeably excited" upon hearing about Tennessee's comeback win against Vanderbilt. Either Bertman (pictured, noticeably excited in his days as LSU's baseball coach) is a big Phil Fulmer fan, or he sees the Vols as easier fodder for his team in the SEC championship game -- as long as Tennessee continues to win, they'll face LSU in Atlanta, a Vol loss would send the 'Dawgs to the Georgia Dome. CBS Sportsline senior writer Gary Parrish says:

[I]t's probably better for the Tigers to stay away from the red-hot Bulldogs, or at least that's what I gathered from the reaction of LSU athletic director Skip Bertman, who was noticeably excited here in the press box when he heard the Vols had stormed back and won.

But Georgia blogger Senator Blutarsky, who has a dog in this fight (so to speak), has the appropriate reaction at his site:

You might want to dial back on the excitement, Skip. Your team just gave up 466 yards to the 90th ranked team in the country in total offense (Ole Miss moved up seven slots in the eleventh week of the season - which is statistically significant - thanks to LSU). Tennessee is ranked 59th right now in total offense. The Vols are number 67 in total defense, which doesn't sound too impressive - except Ole Miss is ranked #96. None of which is to say that Georgia isn't playing some impressive football right now. It's just that LSU may not be.

For the record, Georgia is ranked 71st in total offense right now, a few slots behind Tennessee. Bertman might also want to consider the fact that Tennessee beat Georgia pretty handily earlier this season. It's all moot for the moment anyway, as neither UT or UGA has punched a ticket to the championship game yet. And even though LSU has, they may want to keep in mind that they have a game this weekend against Arkansas a team with an offense statistically way better than either Tennessee or Georgia (#20 in total offense nationally, #4 in rushing offense).

If LSU doesn't play any better this weekend than they played the first half against Ole Miss, they might have their hands full against the Hogs.