STILLWATER, Okla. — If the national championship game were played today, it would be Les Miles’ current team against the one he helped put on the path to the BCS.
Miles has already taken LSU to one national championship, and he’s leading the pack on the way to another after beating Alabama last week. The team that is right behind his top-ranked Tigers in the BCS standings is none other than Oklahoma State.
Miles spent four seasons at Oklahoma State, pulling off two big upsets in the Bedlam rivalry against Oklahoma and starting some upward momentum. He also brought current coach Mike Gundy back into the fold as his offensive coordinator.
If both keep winning, the former colleagues will face off in the BCS title game in January.
Neither coach is all that comfortable at this point talking about the possibilities of meeting two months from now at the Superdome in New Orleans for the title. Each still has three regular-season games left, the last against a top 10 opponent, and the Tigers would also have to win the SEC Championship Game.
“I’d be thrilled for them and thrilled for us, but we’re not in that game just yet,” Miles said. “We’ve got a long way to go and I’m not taking anything for granted in any way and frankly, anybody that plays in that game, congratulations are in order.”
The ties between Miles and Gundy date to 1995, when Miles came to Oklahoma State as Bob Simmons’ offensive coordinator and had Gundy - who was on the previous staff and spent the year before as offensive coordinator - as his quarterbacks coach.
They were reunited in 2001 when Miles, then a Dallas Cowboys assistant, was brought back to replace Simmons as head coach. He hired Gundy as his offensive coordinator, and soon the program was on its way out of a deep valley that followed Barry Sanders’ 1988 Heisman Trophy season and a run through NCAA probation.
Miles won just four games his first season, but capped it with a 16-13 upset at No. 4 Oklahoma that provided momentum in recruiting. The Cowboys won eight games the following season - beating a third-ranked Sooners team and finishing with a winning record for just the second time in 14 years.
“I think it generated some excitement again and then it started to get some people on board: OK, we’re kind of getting that way,” said Todd Monken, Gundy’s current offensive coordinator.
Sports, Pages 26 on 11/11/2011