Thursday, September 07, 2006

Good Stuff

Really nice ESPN piece here by Ted Miller of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on this weekend's LSU-Arizona tilt. A sample:
Arizona's best hope might be LSU looking ahead to a marquee SEC Western Division showdown at Auburn on Sept. 16.

Don't count on that, though, particularly with LSU coach Les Miles eyeballing Stoops across the field. These two have a past, and it doesn't involve trips to the movies.

Before taking over the Tigers in 2005, Miles spent four seasons as Oklahoma State's head coach. Before taking over at Arizona in 2004, Stoops was Oklahoma's co-defensive coordinator. Miles upset Stoops and Oklahoma in 2001 and 2002, while the Sooners ran up the score, 52-9, in 2003.

Needless to say, their relationship wasn't always cuddly during the "Bedlam Series."

Johnson, in fact, uses Stoops' background as an explanation for why he doesn't expect the Wildcats to perform like Cal or Washington State, both of whom conformed to the "soft" Pac-10 stereotype last weekend.

"Our coaches came from the Big 12 and Miami," Johnson said. "I think our defensive approach is a little different than other Pac-10 schools."

Read the whole thing.

1 comment:

Kenny said...

Tired cliches aside, Ted Miller captured a nice cognitive dissonance by that one Wildcat. Play with anyone in the nation, eh? Except your own conference, where Arizona has found just eight wins in five years?

Somehow I just don't think Arizona will give LSU that softening up Auburn would like.