• By RANDY ROSETTA
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Sep 15, 2009 - Page: 1C

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It will be nearly a full calendar year before LSU and Vanderbilt meet again on the football field.

By then maybe the bulletin board in Nashville will be empty again.

For now, though, Tigers coach Les Miles may not be the most popular man in Music City.

As he navigated the question-and-answer session of his weekly press conference Monday, Miles was asked about how much improvement Louisiana-Lafayette has made since 2006 when the Tigers and Ragin’ Cajuns last played.

Ninth-ranked LSU (2-0) hosts UL-Lafayette (2-0) at 6 p.m. Saturday (ESPNU). The last time the two state programs collided, the Tigers crushed the Cajuns 45-3 and limited the visitors to 176 total yards.

“The only thing that comes to mind is that they are probably a better offensive team than the team we just played,” Miles said and then breezed into the rest of his response.

Wait. The Cajuns, from the Sun Belt Conference, are better offensively than Vanderbilt? The Vanderbilt team that racked up 640 yards in its season opener on the way to a 45-0 triumph against Western Carolina?

And this was Miles, who normally measures his words almost to a fault when talking about opponents.

Yep, that’s what Miles said — twice to be exact because he was asked for clarification by WBRZ Sports Director Michael Cauble.

“I think that they are a better offensive team than the team that we just played,” Miles said matter-of-factly.

When another reporter brought the topic back up again, Miles stayed the course and added some legs to his assessment.

“I just think their quarterback is a really good thrower,” he said. “I think that they have ability to maybe do a few more things offensively than Vanderbilt did.”

By the numbers, it’s hard to completely discount Miles’ stand.