Posted by ESPN.com's Chris Low

LSU coach Les Miles has been known to raise a few eyebrows with some of his comments.

	Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images
	John Chavis' defense didn't deliver the kind of dominating performance LSU fans are accustomed to against Washington.

They refer to it as Les-speak on the Bayou.

But he had ears, noses, hair, everything sticking up with a comment he made in the aftermath of LSU’s 31-23 season-opening win at Washington.

“Our new defensive staff did an outstanding job,” Miles said. “They got our players in good position to make tackles, and they improved as the game went on. A lot of the night, we ran the Tiger defense I want to see.”

It’s also the same defense that gave up 478 yards of total offense (more than the Tigers allowed in any game last season) and 25 first downs as the Huskies moved the ball up and down the field.

Granted, LSU settled down and played better in the second half, but the truth is that it’s not the kind of defensive performance anybody wants to see.

Not at LSU, anyway.

Miles shook up his defensive staff a year ago because of an underachieving defense. It’s the reason he brought in John Chavis to run the Tigers’ defense.

But last Saturday’s debut was hardly greeted with rave reviews by LSU fans. In a lot of ways, it’s what they grew accustomed to last season when the Tigers allowed more than 30 points in their last three regular-season games. They were also torched for 50-plus in losses to Florida and Georgia.

So forgive LSU fans if they were sitting there the other night and moaning, “Here we go again.”

It is just one game, though, and the Tigers are far more talented defensively than the way they played defensively in the Pacific Northwest. They also got a play from the defense that turned out to be huge in the outcome. Linebacker Jacob Cutrera made a bobbling interception in the flat and returned it 29 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter.

Chavis’ defenses have traditionally gotten better, and there’s still probably a little bit of a learning curve with the new schemes.

Miles, whose Tigers take on Vanderbilt this Saturday at Tiger Stadium, has no problem with the energy the defense played with against Washington. But in looking back, he would like to see the tackling improve.

“I don’t think we tackled very crisply,” Miles said. “That’s something we’re going to address in the daily part of our schedule here on campus. I also think we tackled much better in the second half. After we got beyond the start of the game, our tackling looked like it’s supposed to look.

“With any defense, or any offense, in the first game, there’s real improvement that takes place as you go into that second game. Our defense will understand the calls and their assignments and their responsibilities better having played in that first game.”