OPINION

By Matt Hayes

updated 2:47 p.m. ET Nov. 6, 2009

Matt Hayes

Week 10 story lines:

1. Old Les is good Les
Ah, the good old days of two years ago, when Les Miles coached like a man who already had been fired and had nothing to lose. And LSU flourished.

That was daring, dashing Les. Now we have dull, deliberate Les.

That was throwing in the end zone with seconds to play. This is field position and winning the battle of punters.

That was never hesitating on fourth down with the game on the line. This is get the game to the fourth quarter and hope the other guy screws up.

"If you punt it and go play defense, that's a good choice," Miles says. "There's nothing wrong with that."

There's nothing wrong with that if you want to spend the holidays in Orlando instead of New Orleans. Or even Pasadena.

There's very little difference in the talent level of Miles' 2007 national championship team and this year's one-loss team, which is more overlooked with each passing week. The only area where LSU hasn't played as well as the 2007 team — which was 7-1 at this point in the season, too — is quarterback.

And that's not necessarily Jordan Jefferson's fault. Jefferson has a better skill set than 2007 starter Matt Flynn, and has started more games in his career (at this point) than Flynn. Jefferson has been protected much of the season by a conservative game plan, with the specific goals of protecting the ball and avoiding game-turning mistakes.

What quarterback — Jefferson, Colt McCoy, Tim Tebow — can play well and play with confidence with those constraints? Again, let's not forget what happened in 2007: Flynn threw 11 interceptions (21 TDs) in 359 attempts and completed 56 percent of his passes. Decent (but certainly not great) numbers.

Jefferson has four interceptions (11 TDs) in 193 attempts (he'll be lucky to reach 280 attempts this season) — and has completed 63.7 percent of his passes. Turn him loose, Les.

"He just has to play within the scheme of the offense," Miles says of Jefferson. "If he does that, he'll do fine."

Fine isn't good enough to beat Alabama; the Tide grind down and humiliate fine, and they still haven't faced a good-to-great team. Only once this fall has Alabama played from behind in the fourth quarter (season opener vs. Virginia Tech), and the game was never in doubt because the other guy's offense didn't have a chance to move the ball when it mattered most.

Get daring again, Les. Be aggressive, not predictable. Force Alabama to play from behind in the fourth quarter with a quarterback (Greg McElroy) who has strung together three straight poor games (359 yards, 0 TDs, 2 INTs).

Pasadena is beautiful in January.

2. The Pryor factor
I don't know about you, but something about Terrelle Pryor just doesn't feel right. It's starting to feel like, I don't know, Mo Clarett.

Look, I'm the first to say Pryor has been poorly coached and doesn't deserve nearly as much criticism as the whackos in Columbus are heaping on him. But last week, after Ohio State's beatdown of New Mexico State, we saw something that maybe opened a window into the Buckeyes' locker room.

Once Pryor was pulled from the rout, he went to the locker room, changed into civvies and watched the game from the sidelines. When asked after the game about Pryor in his street clothes and if he were hurt, OSU coach Jim Tressel said no. From this, we can deduce: Pryor still doesn't realize the enormity of his job. The quarterback is your leader, the player others look up to on and off the field. I don't care if he did get dinged at the end of the first half (apparently, he tweaked his hamstring). Come back out on the field fully dressed and support your teammates.

These are the little things that build team chemistry, that steel a team in times of adversity — like, say, before a game at Penn State with the Big Ten title still within reach. Pryor has crazy talent, but the coddling by the staff (see: Clarett) — instead of coaching him harder, pushing him harder, forcing him to see his leadership responsibilities – will eventually be his undoing.

3. The big deal
It has finally happened. After years of pushing every right button to revive the hell hole that was Kansas football, Mark Mangino made his first mistake.

And it could keep the Jayhawks from playing in their first Big 12 championship game.

Special feature Race for the Heisman In-depth section on the battle for college football's top individual prize NBCSports.com

Mangino last week benched star quarterback Todd Reesing — who has done more for the program's rise among the Big 12 elite than any other player — in the fourth quarter of a loss to Texas Tech with the game still within reach. Less than a month ago, Mangino was politicking to get Reesing in the race for the Heisman Trophy.

Now, according to Reesing, Mangino still hasn't explained why he pulled Reesing. Earlier this week, Mangino — as all cornered coaches do — blamed the media for making a "big deal" out of the benching.

"It was a big deal to me," Reesing told reporters earlier this week. "It is what it is. It's above my pay grade. It's his decision."

Reesing still is the team's starting quarterback, but the drama can't help going into this weekend's game at rival Kansas State. The Jayhawks are the most complete team in the Big 12 North, but the distance between the other five teams will shrink considerably if Reesing is playing with the prospect of being pulled again hanging over him.

MORE FROM COLLEGE FOOTBALL

College football Section Front

McCoy keeping No. 3 ’Horns on same page Bowl Championship Series standings Top nine teams remain same in latest AP poll AP, coaches', Harris Top 25 rankings   Vote: Who should be ranked No. 1? TCU faithful enjoying season to remember Rosy outlook for No. 11 Oregon after 2OT win CFT: Michigan A.D. says Rodriguez will be back Opinion: Michigan the happiest 5-7 team in history Special feature: Is your coach on the 'Hot Seat'? College football Section Front   Add College football headlines to your news reader: