Les Miles is a misunderstood man.
The common perception is that LSU's coach is a risk-taker, a man with no regard for the outcome of his team's games who only cares about making the endings more exciting.
Fake punts, multiple conversion attempts on fourth downs early in games and last-second touchdown passes when a field goal attempt would have sufficed.
Miles called all of those plays last season, but he said during Wednesday's teleconference he'd rather not have to make those decisions at all.
"People have put me on that. That's not me at all," Miles said. "To be honest with you, I much prefer to have everything done well in advance."
In other words, he'd rather convert a third-and-five than have to bother with a fourth-and-one any day.
"(I) don't particularly feel like fourth down is the position to do anything," Miles said.
Still, when those situations come up as they so often have for Miles and the Tigers, he knows he has to call a play that can work.
"(It) would be something you can execute extremely well," Miles said.
And LSU certainly executes fourth-down plays well. Be they runs by Jacob Hester last season or Charles Scott this season, the Tigers are scoring on fourth down.
They have attempted three fourth-down conversions this season. Two have been successful, both run in for touchdowns by Scott, and the first one was a 29-yard run.
Basically, Miles knows what he's doing. Since coming to LSU from Oklahoma State, he has gone 38-6 with the Tigers, won Southeastern Conference and national championships in 2007 and had a quarterback, JaMarcus Russell, taken No. 1 overall in the 2007 NFL Draft.
The biggest disadvantage with being known as a risk-taker, Miles said, is that he can't pull the plays off as often as he would like anymore. When a play is put into action, Miles has to stow it away for future use.
"The bad news is you have about two or three of those things period, and after you use them, they generally lie dormant for quite some time," Miles said. "I think that the really good ones are not often there and don't necessarily make every game plan."
There's something else people don't understand about Miles - he's hip to the favorite music of his players.
Back in July, Miles met with rapper Snoop Dogg when he went to Baton Rouge.
The next day, Snoop Dogg came on stage during a Miles press conference, and the coach busted out a few spontaneous lines from Snoop Dogg songs, including "Sensual Seduction."
"My performance? I think I'm the worst rapper in the history of rap," Miles said. "My performance is certainly something that was no more than a weak attempt at Snoop's style of music."
Miles said he knew some song lyrics because he discussed music with his son, Ben.
"My players enjoy his music among a number of other artists," Miles said. "He came to town, and I had the opportunity to meet him and enjoy this, you know, very few moments that we spent together."
By contrast, UF coach Urban Meyer doesn't cozy up with hip-hop stars.
"Les is friends with Snoop?" Meyer said. "Good for him."
But with as much fun as Miles can have with famous rappers or trick plays, he certainly will be taking the Gators seriously come Saturday. No. 11 UF is anywhere from a 4- to 6-point favorite over No. 4 LSU, according to USA Today.
Miles isn't buying it.
"The only thing I can tell you is that our team will have a real want to compete in that game," Miles said. "If we play like we're capable, I like our matchup."
