You can say many things about LSU head football coach Les Miles.

Words like idiotic, insane and lucky have been used quite a bit to describe Miles’ coaching decisions.

But whatever you want to say about Miles, there is one thing you have to admit. The man sure is entertaining.

Throw a hail mary into the end zone with one second left when you trail by a point and are on your opponent’s 25-yard line? Let’s do it.

Spike the ball with no time on the clock? Why not?

Run a fake field goal where the holder flips the ball back over his head to the kicker? Of course.

And the latest Miles masterpiece came on Saturday and was the key to LSU’s 24-21 win over Alabama that keeps them on the fringe of the national championship race.

The Tigers had fourth and inches at Alabama’s 25-yard line trailing 14-13 with about 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter.

There are several options Miles could have chosen here. Either kick the field goal to take the lead, run a quarterback sneak or hand off to Stevan Ridley, who surely will pick up a couple of inches on a run up the middle.

But Miles didn’t earn the nickname “The Mad Hatter” for nothing.

So of course he calls for a reverse, and of course it works perfectly for a 22-yard gain to the 3-yard line.

Ridley would score three plays later and LSU would take the lead it would never relinquish.

Tommy Tuberville was known as the Riverboat Gambler when he coached at Ole Miss and Auburn for his penchant for going for it on fourth down.

But if Tuberville is a riverboat gambler, Miles owns the casino.

I have never seen a coach go so consistently for fourth down conversions or trick plays and come up with a royal flush.

Saturday’s gutsy reverse call was just another example of Miles taking a risk and living to boast about it.

It’s past the point of just saying Miles is lucky.

Sure, the man has had some luck in his career.

He did win a national championship with two losses, which may never happen again.

He also took advantage of Derek Dooley’s inability to count after it looked like LSU had let the clock run out on a victory against Tennessee earlier this season.

But today’s fourth-down call wasn’t luck. It was a excellent decision that took the Alabama defense completely by surprise.

And the victory wasn’t lucky either.

LSU completely dominated the Crimson Tide in the second half, outgaining them by an almost three to one margin.

Before the fourth-down call, CBS showed a graphic that said LSU was seven for eight on fourth down attempts this season.

Converting at that outstanding percentage isn’t luck. It’s a combination of quality play-calling and the confidence of the players.

And if I was a player for LSU, I would always have the confidence that a fourth-down call would work.

After all, they almost always have with Miles.

So I’ll tell you what I told my wife after LSU’s last-second win over Florida a few weeks ago following the fake field goal.

Thank God for Les Miles. He sure does keep life interesting.