At his weekly press conference Monday, LSU coach Les Miles said he plans to wait until later in the week to decide whether freshman Brandon Harris or sophomore Anthony Jennings will take the first snap this weekend.
Harris made his first start of the season last week against Auburn, but Jennings, who started the first five games, replaced him late in the third quarter.
Miles said no matter who gets to start for the Tigers (4-2, 0-2 Southeastern Conference), both guys will continue to prepare like the starter.
“I think both of these quarterbacks, Harris and Jennings, are guys that will learn to be and want to be very, very quality starters,” Miles said.
Each quarterback had their struggles in their first road experience, leading the offense to a 0-for-13 performance on third down attempts.
Miles said second down errors caused the third down failures.
“In the first and tens we were probably, without doing the arithmetic, probably averaging seven or eight yards on first and 10,” Miles said. “Then simple opportunities to convert in short yardage, really went by with a mistake, and that mistake really cost that offense the opportunity to move the football.”
Clock Management Issues
Trailing 31-7 with only seconds remaining in the second quarter, the LSU offense was moving the chains.
Harris scrambled 32 yards for a first down at the Auburn 25-yard line but left only 10 seconds on the clock. On the next play, Harris attempted a pass into the endzone that fell incomplete as time expired and LSU went into the half with nothing to show for that drive.
Miles said he chose not to use his timeout because he hoped to catch the defense off guard.
“With a 10‑second clock we never expected that we would use a 10‑second play,” Miles said. “We decided at that point, keep the timeout. If that ball falls short of the goal line, you have an opportunity to have a one‑second timeout and field goal. And didn’t want to get the defense to line up. [We] wanted to make them have a pressure on them in that position.”
D.J. Welter Replaced at MLB
Sophomore Kendell Beckwith played a lot of snaps at middle linebacker for the second consecutive week. Miles said that he’s not ready to call Beckwith the starter in place of senior D.J. Welter but said Beckwith does have “natural advantages.”
The Tigers’ defense allowed 41 points, a season-high, but Miles said he liked the effort and hustle from his players and that Auburn just made great plays.
“This defense has given great effort and energy, and they’re really making tackles, so if you want to see some really quality efforts, it’s there,” Miles said. “I mean that [Auburn wide receiver Sammie Coates] made a tremendous catch over the top of [sophomore cornerback] Rashard Robinson, and I promise you Rashard Robinson had it covered, and in the double pass or the play where they pitched it back to their second guy, [junior safety] [Jalen] Mills was right on it.”
LSU ultimately fell to Auburn 41-7, the worst margin of defeat during Miles’ tenure.
Despite the outcome of the game, Miles said he expects his team to rebound.
“I can tell you that the character in that room and that building and the type of people that are there will certainly respond, and that to me is the reason that I have confidence in how we’ll go forward,” Miles said.