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LSU redshirt freshman quarterback Jarrett Lee has been told all season that he doesn’t need to be a superstar for the Tigers’ offense to be successful.    But Lee went above and beyond his call of duty in the first start of his collegiate career in the Tigers’ 34-24 win Saturday against Mississippi State.”We all knew he would come in and play well,” said junior halfback Charles Scott. “He played even better than we all thought he would. He was great.”    Lee’s start not only surpassed his halfback’s expectations — it also surpassed the first career starts of former LSU quarterbacks Matt Flynn, JaMarcus Russell and Matt Mauck.    Mauck completed 15-of-31 passes with an interception in a 26-8 loss at Virginia Tech in 2002. Russell was injured in the first half of his first career start, a 24-21 win at Florida in 2004.Flynn had the most memorable start of the three and defeated Miami, 40-3, in the 2005 Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl, completing 13-of-22 passes for 196 yards and two touchdowns.But Lee trumped all three, and his 18 completions and 261 yards Saturday rank second in the Les Miles, Nick Saban and Gerry DiNardo eras for the most by a player starting his first game as the Tigers’ quarterback.Sophomore Ryan Perrilloux’s 20-for-25, 298-yard, three-touchdown performance in his first career start last September ranks first in nearly every statistical category.Lee’s start compares more favorably to Perrilloux’s 20-for-30, 243-yard performance in the Southeastern Championship Game last season, Perrilloux’s only start against SEC competition.Lee said his place in LSU history is a mystery to him he doesn’t pay attention to records and statistics.    “I did not know [those stats],” Lee said. “I just go into each and every game and control what I can control. All of those other things, if you work hard, they will take care of themselves.”Lee’s play also caught the eye of sophomore quarterback Andrew Hatch, who started the Tigers’ first three games.    Hatch missed Saturday’s game with a medium-level concussion sustained against Auburn but said he was proud of how Lee played in his absence.     “Jarrett did a great job for us,” he said. “I am really happy about how well he played. I think the whole offense played well.”Each of the past six LSU starting quarterbacks won their first career start. The last Tiger quarterback to lose his first start was Mauck.    Lee said the most important thing about Saturday’s game was the final score — not the statistics.”We had a good week of practice and got a hard-fought win,” he said. “That was more important to me than how I played.”Lee has also had his share of freshman mistakes, including interceptions deep inside his own territory against Appalachian State and Auburn, as well as what Miles described as an “early read” this weekend that led to an interception against the Bulldogs.Miles said Lee will make freshman mistakes throughout the season, but his play in his past two games has earned him more time under center as the season progresses.    “I think Lee will play more [now] than he might have in the Auburn game if he hadn’t played as well as he did in that game,” Miles said.    Lee understands the credit he’s being given for LSU’s 4-0 start and top-three position in both the Coaches’ and AP Polls.But the Brenham, Texas, native said having a Heisman hopeful at tailback as well as receivers like junior Brandon LaFell and senior Demetrius Byrd make the learning curve smaller than it would be at other schools.”My job is to just get the ball to our playmakers and let them make plays,” he said. “Nothing fancy. Just give them the ball in places to let them run with it.”—–Contact Casey Gisclair at [email protected]