BATON ROUGE, La. — Now it’s Brandon Harris’ turn.
LSU began the season with a quarterback platoon that had sophomore Anthony Jennings starting and freshman Harris spelling him for a few series.
But Jennings got off to a fast start, Harris played like a first-year player and the gap between the two seemed to widen. Then Jennings played poorly as the Tigers fell three touchdowns behind Mississippi State in their SEC opener and everything changed.
Harris came in, not in a planned relief role but because of desperate circumstances, and he nearly rallied LSU to victory. Then last week in a 63-7 rout of New Mexico State, the offense sputtered in the first quarter behind Jennings, turning the ball over four times, and Harris came in and directed seven touchdown drives in as many possessions.
So as No. 15 LSU returns to SEC play at No. 5 Auburn this week, it’s Harris who will start and Jennings who will see spot duty in relief.
“Really he just did the things that we asked him to do, and that’s honestly all he needs to do, make quality decisions with the ball, function the offense,” LSU Coach Les Miles said of Harris. “There is some “ad-lib” to his game that’s very, very positive, and he’s a guy that is really fast and a guy that can really throw the ball.”
It’s still a quarterback platoon system, but the roles have changed as the respective performances changed dramatically the last two games.
“Sometimes there’s an opportunity for another player to give a player that’s currently got the burden of starting and all of the game plan on his plate a series or a situation off,” Miles said. “I’m not saying we will do that, but we have a lot of confidence in both guys. We certainly have a lot of confidence in Harris, and we will have to take it as it goes.”
Auburn coach Gus Malzahn mentioned Harris on his radio show this week after Miles announced Jennings would be the backup.
“We recruited him,” Malzahn said. “We know he’s very talented. He’s a dual-threat quarterback. He’s got an NFL arm.”
The game will be the fourth at home for Auburn in its first five games. Auburn, which beat Kansas State in its only road appearance so far, will be at Mississippi State on Oct. 11.
NOTES: LSU’ DB Dwayne Thomas (knee) is expected to miss the rest of the season. … Auburn LB Cassanova McKinzy left the game against Louisiana Tech after taking a hit to the chin and sustaining a mild concussion. Head coach Gus Malzahn said his status is day-to-day. … FS Jermaine Whitehead is expected to miss his third game of the season because of his suspension following what has been reported as a verbal altercation with a coach before Auburn’s game at Kansas State.