“The LSU Athletics Department today agreed to reinstate Will Wade as head coach of the Tiger basketball program. Coach Wade met Friday with University and NCAA officials. During those meetings, he answered all questions and denied any wrongdoing in connection with recently reported allegations of irregularities in college basketball recruiting.
“The University regrets that Coach Wade did not choose to fulfill his obligations to LSU when he was first asked to do so. However, the seriousness of the allegations and Coach Wade’s prior refusal to refute them could not be ignored without exposing the University and the basketball program to great risk. Protecting LSU and preserving our integrity must always be our first priority.
“Coach Wade’s explanations and clarifications offered during the meeting, absent actual evidence of misconduct, satisfy his contractual obligation to LSU. Accordingly, I have recommended that Coach Wade’s suspension be lifted and that he should be allowed to resume his coaching responsibilities. President Alexander has accepted this recommendation.”
“I am humbled and grateful to be back at LSU. I would like to express my appreciation to President F. King Alexander and Athletic Director Joe Alleva for my reinstatement, and I sincerely apologize to the university and our fans for the disruption to the University and the program.
“I regret the circumstances that prevented me from meeting with the University sooner. I wish I could have addressed these issues when the University first requested a meeting, and I’m grateful they gave me the opportunity to do so last week.
“I completely understand that without my denying or explaining the media reports accusing me of wrongdoing LSU was left with no choice but to suspend me until I was willing and able to meet with them. Any other course of action would have put the program and the University at risk.
“I look forward to re-joining the team right away. I intend to sit down with my student-athletes and co-workers to explain what has happened during the last 30 days and how I intend for us all to move forward.
“I promise to devote all of my energy into preparing for next season and finishing the job we have started at LSU.”R
“Again, I’d like to thank the Board of Supervisors, President Alexander, Athletic Director Joe Alleva, our student-athletes, and our fans for this opportunity.”
LSU athletics and head soccer coach Brian Lee today announced that Lee will be vacating his position effective immediately.
“Brian has been with LSU for 14 years and we wish him and his family well at his next stop,” said vice chancellor and director of athletics Joe Alleva. “We enjoyed a season of success last year and we have an outstanding group of student-athletes who remain part of our program. We have an opportunity to build on last year’s success and we are very excited about the future of the LSU soccer program.”
Billy Cannon’s statue will be unveiled on Friday night and it is a big deal because he is one of the all-time greats to play here at LSU. They will be honoring the 1958 National Championship with a reunion on Saturday. I want to personally thank them for setting the standard for all LSU Tigers, and all LSU coaches. Obviously, those guys are icons in LSU history and a lot of them are still around today and a lot of them are very supportive of what I and the LSU Tigers are doing. This is a big deal with obviously his run at night is very historic. You hear about it, we watch it and we talk to our recruits about it. This is a great rivalry. It is a going to be 8:15 at night in Tiger Stadium with LSU and Ole Miss and it is a great opportunity.”
“Here’s a little about the game on Saturday night. Obviously, we are pleased about the win but there are some things that we need to improve on and we are working hard today. Last night, we did a lot of searching on the film about what went wrong and what allowed them to score 21 points on us and I’m sure those corrections will be made this week. As far as some of the highlights, I thought our offensive line played pretty well. Chasen Hines and Badara Traore to be specific. They started and played most of the game and I thought both of those guys were excellent. I thought Coach (James) Cregg has continued to do an excellent job with those guys as we were able to rush for 218 yards. I thought Clyde (Edwards-Helaire) had his best games as he had 136 yards and two TDs. Nick Brossette had 23 carries, 78 yards and three touchdowns. I was happy for both of those guys, they are like brothers and I am really happy for that pair. Joe Burrow had no interceptions for the fourth straight game and I thought Dee Anderson had his best game with five catches for 80 yards. Foster Moreau had his best game with four catches. On defense, Jacob Phillips had 13 tackles and is continuing to have a good year. Devin White had 11 tackles, one sack, one fumble recovery and three pass breakups. As far as special teams, we had a 45.8-yard average on five punts, three of those inside the 20-yard line. We were one-for-one on field goals and all seven kickoffs went for touchbacks. As far as other things, we lead the nation in red-zone offense. It was something that we wanted to improve on. Since Coach (Steve) Ensminger has been the offensive coordinator, we are 40 of 43 in the red-zone which is phenomenal. We lead the nation in the least turnovers committed, and we are plus 8 overall in the turnover margin which is good for fourth in the nation which is something we have been working very hard on and we are very proud of.
On to Ole Miss, they are very explosive on offense. Matt Luke is doing a great job. Matt was on my staff when I was there and he is an outstanding man. I think that Ole Miss did a great job in hiring Matt. He loves Ole Miss, he’s been a great recruiter there and he is doing a phenomenal job with this team. On offense they are very hard to stop. They score 42 points a game and average 500 yards per game. Jordan Ta’amu is an excellent quarterback and he fits their scheme perfectly. He’s an accurate passer and he is a very good quarterback. Scotty Phillips is a good running back, we had actually looked at him. He was a junior college player. They probably have the best set of receivers that we are going to see all year. A.J Brown and D.K Metcalf are both going to be in the NFL and both are outstanding receivers and their tight end Dawson Knox gave us problems last year so we are going to have our hands full with this offense. Defensively, they are struggling a little bit. They run a 4-2-5 but they have some very good players. Benito Jones is a guy that we tried to recruit and he is a very good nose tackle. They also have Cedric Woods at strong safety who is a good player. On special teams, they are solid.”
LSU Tigers came out explosive on offense as they lit up the Hurricanes in the first half of the game. LSU always plays good in Jerry’s World in Arlington,Texas. I remember watching LSU play Oregon in 2011 in the first game of the season as LSU whipped the Ducks 34-13, a embarrassing loss for Chip Kelly and the PAC 12. LSU already knew QB Joe Burrows was gonna have a big game the way he commands the huddle and called different audibles even at the line of scrimmage. Midway thru the first half Miami was sending a safety blitz on the right side, so Joe Burrows changes the play at the line of scrimmage and calls a running play to the left side as he hands the ball off to Nick Brossette and opens up a whole with the size of a dump truck, Nick runs up the middle untouched 50 yards for a touchdown. Amazing Burrows has only been here for 2 months and already making improvements on the offense. Amazing how Nick Brossette has waited behind Leonard Fournette, and Darius Guise and he gets his chance to show his skills on the big stage in Jerry;s World. Simply Amazing !
The LSU Defense really stood out especially in the 1st half, Miami march down the field a few times, settle for a field goal by Baxa, and then Miami had a chance to take the lead but Baxa hooked the kick as it sailed left. Funny how LSU was driving again, and Burrow throws a long pass to Wr Chase by the goal line as he makes the-catch, it looked like he scored as he knocked down the goal line cone for the endxone but the refs rulled him out at the 1 yard line without checking the replay. I do believe it was a touchdown. It’s okay because the next play LSU qb Burrow hands the ball off to Brosette and he scores again on the left side, there was like no Miami defenders there to stop him as he walks into the endzone, Amazing indeed, LSU was up 17-3. Soon there after as the LSU defense stopped Miami qb Rozier III and co again LSU gets the ball back and sets up another field goal for LSU kicker Cole Tracy, so LSU IS UP 20-3. By this time the LSU kicker Tracy has scored more pts than the Miami offense 8-3. Before everything gets crazy Miami gets the ball back Miami qb Rozier rolls back and tries to dump the ball off to a receiver but throws it right to LSU lb Jacob Phillips and he is somewhat surprised the ball is thrown right at him, and he scampers untouched for 40 yards for a touchdown and let the Hurricanes start flowing in New Orleans because LSU is on its way for a blowout sitting at halftime with a 27-3 lead.
The 2nd half was pretty dominant by LSU as well, they got in the red zone twice but settle for field goals from LSU kicker Cole Tracy. At this time the LSU Kicker scored 14pts and Miami as a team only scored 3pts. Miami would go on to score a pair of touchdowns as Hurricane qb Rozier III ran one in from the one yard line and then threw a deep pass to Canes WR Hightower for another touchdown. So LSU wraps up this game 33-17, which they were not favored to win, I heard some announcers saying it was gonna be a huge blowout for Miami. Funny how the players decide the game and the predictors and announcers talk.
