Rosetta: Tigers have questions to ponder

• By RANDY ROSETTA
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Oct 12, 2009 - Page: 1C

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First the good: LSU’s defense is rock-solid and will keep the Tigers in games against anybody they play the rest of the season.

The good, part II: LSU is 5-1 at the halfway point of its season and still hanging around the top-10 in the AP poll.

Next, the bad and the ugly rolled into one: The offense is a disaster and could cost the Tigers games against anybody they play if the ship isn’t righted drastically and immediately.

Between them, LSU coach Les Miles and offensive coordinator Gary Crowton have 11 children. Like all of us who have been blessed with kids, being a parent is a job infinitely more important than anything those guys do with Xs and Os on a dry-erase board.

Maybe it would help if the Tigers offensive brain trust applied some parenting philosophies to the LSU offense.

Things like not punishing one child (quarterback) for a sibling’s transgressions.

Or maybe forgiving a kid for previous mistakes.

Lastly, every parent has to realize the time comes when a youngster needs a chance to test his limits and gain real-world experience.

There are plenty of problems with the Tigers offense right now, but the focal point is the quarterback and right now there’s some confusion at that spot for LSU.

Jordan Jefferson is undoubtedly the starter. After six games, though, it just seems like the talented 6-foot-4 sophomore is operating under a very difficult and restrictive set of circumstances – he’s clearly hesitant to run and unwilling to take many chances throwing the ball.

That seems like collateral damage from a year ago when Jarrett Lee suffered through a season of interceptions without a safety net most of the season.

Which might also explain why Lee hasn’t gotten even a sniff at injecting some life into the offense when it’s stagnated this season. Seems likes he may never get the chance to show he has matured and can handle things better.

Then there’s the youngest of the Tigers’ three quarterbacks (assuming Chris Garrett redshirts this season).