Several LSU athletic department employees, including members of the football staff, said all day Friday that Pelini had already accepted the Nebraska job. No one wanted their name used, however. But trust me, he's gone.
"I heard Pelini's been gone for six weeks," one LSU fan said in the lobby of the purple and gold Marriott Marquis on Friday night. "That's about when LSU stopped having a defense."
Good point. It was Oct. 13 at Kentucky. That's when everything went south and Pelini went north. He should have just announced his new job this week and left town. He is the reason LSU will not be in the BCS national championship game. It's not an injury here and there. LSU's "No. 1" defense let this team down because Pelini doesn't know how to blitz like LSU's former defensive coordinator — Nick Saban.
"We had a blitz for every state in the country," said a relative of one of LSU's best veteran defensive players Friday. "Now, I don't know what we have."
Pelini came into LSU three years ago never giving Saban any credit for authoring the best defenses in LSU history since Charles McClendon. And Pelini will leave three years later never starting a player regularly not signed by Saban.
He even offered subtle criticism of Saban right off, saying coaches should not make their players have to learn such complicated schemes. He would let his players play. That worked for a couple of years. For the last several weeks, LSU has needed a Wyoming or Wisconsin blitz. This is the SEC, Bo. You have to be complicated. Apparently interim Nebraska athletic director Tom Osborne didn't see the Arkansas game film. Good luck, Bo. Or should I say, good luck Nebraska?
But Pelini is the least of LSU's worries. Even if Pelini didn't get the Nebraska job, he'd probably be gone anyway, even if Miles stays. Because Miles has been watching the films since that Kentucky game, too, and wondering what is going on.
