LSU is up

LSU COACH LES MILES

• My co-worker, Josh Moon, says Miles is the "George W. Bush" of college football. I don't know what that means, but it made me laugh.
  
  
• John Chavis, formerly a reviled Tennessee defensive coach, now is LSU's defensive coordinator.
  
  
• Miles voted for Tim Tebow. Nobody asked. We already know that.
  
  
• Miles is interested to see how officials regulate the new emphasis on helmet-to-helmet contact. "It has the potential to be over-officiated."
  
  
• "Championships are how we're measured. You never expect to finish second. Not at LSU."
  
  
• Miles allowed his publicist to fill out his All-SEC ballot, just as Spurrier did. Miles said simply echoed his publicist's decisions. "Those were my calls as well."
  
  
• Miles claims to (personally) fill out his ballot in the coaches' poll.
  
  
• On assistants' salaries: "We're fortunate that those things, market value, are looked at as as a positive thing. It's wonderful that assistant coaches' salaries are escalating. It's deserved. It's a tough time right now. Our economy will come around. If that man is doing a great job, he's deserving."
  
  
• On voting in the coaches' poll: "You have to have a staffer to assist the head coach. There is an opportunity to check or review your selections. The coach that operates in the SEC knows this conference best. Overall, it probably melts down to a very representative selection."
  
  
• On what he thought went wrong last season: "If you had one statistic ... it would be turnover margin. If you look at the year we won, we finished second in the country. We weren't near that last year. You have to start fast on both sides of the ball. I understand what happened at the back end of last season. I suspect our team does, too."
  
  

THAT'S A WRAP. Next up is Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin at 11:45ish.