Jefferson shows growth

• By RANDY ROSETTA
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Oct 5, 2009

• Print
• Email
• Save
• Reprints
• Twitter
• Share

• Del.icio.us
• Digg
• Facebook
• Reddit
• 

For 6 1/2 games as LSU’s No. 1 quarterback, Jordan Jefferson’s signature quality was limiting mistakes and not putting the offense in bad spots or costing the Tigers points.

Then for three quarters Saturday, the sophomore from Destrehan looked like his learning curve had taken an abrupt turn in the wrong direction.

An interception in the end zone. Another bad pass from the 6-yard-line that forced a field goal. A bad decision on an option toss — giving the ball up when he had room to run for a first down himself on third-and-2. A failed fourth-down conversion on what looked like a make-able quarterback sneak.

That was just the first half.

Jefferson also recorded the first three carries of the second half and lost 18 yards, getting sacked twice when he appeared to hold onto the ball too long. Georgia sacked him six times in all for minus-34 yards.

With Jefferson scuffling, No. 4 LSU managed only six points in the first three quarters and allowed the No. 18 Bulldogs to hang around on a day when Georgia’s offense was brutally bad in the first half.

But Jefferson’s other most notable trait — a quiet but unwavering confidence — kicked in just in time.

It just so happened the unflappable Jefferson came alive in the fourth quarter, something he’d never had to do before.

“I never doubted that guy once,” LSU linebacker Kelvin Sheppard said. “His will to win is just too strong. He fights on every down, and I knew he’d get things turned around.”

Sheppard was right.

Jefferson went from struggling to guiding the Tigers back from two deficits in the fourth quarter on the way to their biggest victory of the season.

A week after throwing for a career-best 233 yards, Jefferson finished 18 of 27 for 212 yards. His fourth-quarter emergence added up to 82 passing yards on three possessions, with a 14-yard pass wiped out by a penalty and two other on-target throws dropped.

Bigger than any statistics, though, Jefferson put his stamp on the starting quarterback job by engineering a game- and perhaps season-salvaging 88-yard touchdown drive, hitting 4-of-7 passes for 54 yards.