LSU’s decision last weekend to remove the interim tag for football coach Ed Orgeron has been met with mixed reviews, but “Coach O” has a staunch believer in the counterpart his team just defeated.
Texas A&M’s Kevin Sumlin lost all four meetings against former Tigers coach Les Miles, and he’s now 0-1 against Orgeron following last Thursday’s 54-39 track meet in College Station. Orgeron replaced Miles four games into this season, when LSU was 2-2 and coming off an 18-13 loss at Auburn.
“I think, as other coaches have said, that Ed has done a great job,” Sumlin said. “It’s not the easiest thing to do to step into that room and have people follow a vision. The thing that you noticed was that the energy level went up, because their guys were flying around and playing hard.
“They played great games even in their losses, and it’s a credit to Ed that they bounced back every one of those times. Consistency has been the biggest deal, but you’ve also seen that energy level go up.”
Orgeron’s first full season as LSU’s head coach could be filled with adventures, as the 2017 Tigers will open against Brigham Young in Houston before beginning their home schedule against the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. LSU also will host Syracuse and Troy, but the really taxing part will be having to play five Southeastern Conference foes (Mississippi State, Florida, Ole Miss, Alabama and Tennessee) on the road.