Forget DBU, LSU might as well be Drama U – at least when the Tigers step outside the lines. After another tumultuous offseason, this one complete with post title-game fallout right on through to its stormy conclusion, the No. 3 Tigers finally return to action Saturday at 6 p.m. against North Texas in Tiger Stadium. Even though the Mean Green is LSU’s first opponent in nearly eight months, most local eyes have hardly been trained on a North Texas team that went 5-7 last season in Dan McCarney’s first year as coach. They’ve been watching Hurricane Isaac, and now their attention shifts to the Tigers’ stars, both present and absent. LSU dismissed cornerback and 2011 Heisman finalist Tyrann Mathieu three weeks ago, leaving the Tigers’ secondary thin on starting experience beyond juniors Tharold Simon and Eric Reid. True freshman Jalen Mills – Mathieu’s replacement – and first-year starter at safety Craig Loston will face off against Mean Green junior quarterback Derek Thompson, who threw for 1,759 yards and 11 touchdowns in 2011. LSU coach Les Miles praised North Texas’ offensive athleticism, despite the loss of the school’s all-time leading rusher, Lance Dunbar, to graduation. But it’s the LSU offense and junior quarterback Zach Mettenberger who will be in the spotlight. After an erratic and four-year tenure with Jordan Jefferson and Jarrett Lee under center, all talk of LSU this offseason has centered on an enhanced aerial assault with Mettenberger. “The ability to throw the football’s better,” Miles said. “Call it confidence. Call it a new quarterback. I thought the two quarterbacks that we had were talented, but it just appears to me there’s a little bit more juice in the ball – a little bit more ability.” Mettenberger and a largely unproven crop of wideouts will likely find ample room to work out any kinks against a North Texas secondary that has zero returning starters. That lack of experience will make it even tougher for the Mean Green in Tiger Stadium, which has been a house of horrors for them in recent years. North Texas has made it past the Tigers’ 16-yard line only once in four meetings, with LSU winning by an average score of 49-3. That history suggests Saturday to be a benign opener, something the Tigers haven’t been accustomed to in recent years. The Tigers opened against ranked opponents at a neutral site the last two seasons, crossed the country to take on Washington in 2009 and started 2007 at conference foe Mississippi State on a Thursday night. LSU is beginning the season at home for just the third time in Miles’ eight seasons and the first since Appalachian State in 2008. That game was also the last time Baton Rouge dealt with the effects of a hurricane, as Gustav rolled through the campus area and forced LSU to shuffle around its schedule. But the home date doesn’t mean the offseason was a quiet one, and that turmoil kept on rolling earlier this week, extending even beyond Isaac’s path. Miles announced that junior running back Michael Ford and junior linebacker Tahj Jones may miss the opener as they deal with unspecified academic eligibility issues. Sixth-year senior offensive lineman Josh Dworaczyk said the distractions have become “white noise” by this point, noting LSU’s undefeated regular past season as the expected response to any personal issues. “Through crisis or through any adversity, we’re going to get closer,” he said. “You have to take those things and spin it into a way that you turn it into a positive for this team to grow together. If you lose a guy or there’s a void that has to be filled, guess what: you have to tighten things down a little bit.” Ford was LSU’s leading rusher in 2011, gaining 756 yards and finding the endzone seven times. Junior Alfred Blue and sophomore Kenny Hilliard earned the nod as co-starters at running back following strong fall camps and flashes of brilliance down the stretch last season. “They’ve had the best camps, and that’s why we’re comfortable with their skills,” Miles said. They’ll run behind an offensive line returning four starters from the 2011 unit that powered a running attack to 202 yards per game. The combination of that bruising presence and a defensive line – one that remains largely intact this season – sapped the drama from the second half of many LSU games last fall. In recent years, LSU has become synonymous with on and off the field theatrics, which was only exacerbated by last August’s incident at Shady’s Bar and Tyrann Mathieu’s dismissal this August. With the storm, both literal and figurative, behind them, the Tigers open a new chapter in the saga against the Mean Green Saturday night in Death Valley.
____ Contact Chris Abshire at [email protected]; Twitter:@AbshireTDR