By CHRIS ANTONACCI
AP Writer
BATON ROUGE (AP) — LSU coach Les Miles remains coy on the identity of his starting quarterback. Just whom will start when No. 8 LSU opens on Saturday by hosting intrastate foe UL-Lafayette might not be known until the Tigers’ first offensive series.
“We will let the competition play out,” Miles said. “We will have a good quarterback. I promise you.”
Miles, who endured an emotional season impacted by two hurricanes in his first year at LSU, is expected to choose between juniors JaMarcus Russell and Matt Flynn. Miles remains flexible on the playing time, though, and might rotate the quarterbacks depending on the situation.
Russell, who is 14-2 as a starter, missed LSU’s 40-3 Peach Bowl win over Miami last season because of a separated shoulder and wrist injury.
Russell helped LSU prevail in overtime games with Auburn and Alabama, and directed a fourth-quarter comeback over Florida. He completed 188 of 311 passes for 2,443 yards with 15 touchdowns and nine interceptions, but suffered the shoulder injury in the Tigers’ 34-14 loss to Georgia in the SEC championship game.
That defeat denied LSU a chance to play in a BCS game.
In Russell’s place at the Peach Bowl, Flynn completed 13 of 22 passes and threw for 196 yards and two touchdowns in his first start. Including the bowl game, Flynn connected on 27 of 48 passes for 457 yards with seven touchdowns and one interception last season. Freshman Ryan Perrilloux could also be in the mix for playing time.
After coming over from Oklahoma State to succeed Nick Saban, three of Miles’ games were impacted by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita last season.
The opener against North Texas, originally scheduled for Sept. 3, was postponed until Oct. 29 and the Sept. 10 game was moved to Arizona State from Tiger Stadium. The Tennessee game, a 30-27 overtime loss, was pushed back two days to Sept. 26.
“What this football team has been through, the change in schedule, two hurricanes, in my opinion, gave great example to overcoming obstacles and coming together,” Miles said. “The best thing you can say about the ’05 team is it was selfless. They had great leadership and great character. I hope this ’06 team saw and understood the example the ’05 team was.”
The Tigers seek more consistency from senior wide receiver Dwayne Bowe, who had 41 catches for 710 yards and nine touchdowns in 2005, but often dropped passes in critical spots. Miles also is looking for senior running back Justin Vincent to recapture his freshman form.
Vincent’s rushing average has dwindled in each of the previous two seasons, as he ran for 488 yards and five touchdowns on 121 carries last season. He had 1,001 yards and 10 touchdowns on 154 attempts, all of which were career highs, in 2003.
“I have tremendous goals for myself, but I definitely want to make sure this team wins ball games before anything,” said Vincent, who takes over for Joseph Addai. “I have never been on a losing ball club and I definitely don’t want to start now.”
Safeties LaRon Landry (69 tackles) and Jessie Daniels (39), and linebacker Ali Highsmith (75) lead a defense that will be tested in road trips to Auburn, Florida, Tennessee and Arkansas this season.
Lafayette closed with five straight wins to finish 6-5 last season and hopes to carry that momentum to a Sun Belt Conference title. Lafayette led the conference in scoring offense (26.0 ppg), rushing offense (254.3 ypg) and total offense (386.6 ypg), and ran for a program-record 2,797 yards and 34 touchdowns.
The Ragin’ Cajuns feature a less-heralded quarterback controversy. Jerry Babb (74-for-119, 859 yards, three TDs) and Michael Desormeaux (62-for-117, 597 yards) each played in eight games last season.
Desormeaux started four games when Babb was out with a shoulder injury. They both can run – Babb had 400 rushing yards and Desormeaux added 487 – as can sophomore Tyrell Fenroy, who totaled 1,053 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns on 179 carries.
These teams are meeting for the second time since 1938, with LSU winning 48-0 in the last meeting in 2002. The Tigers, whose only loss in its last 10 openers was in 2002, have shut out Lafayette in 16 of the 20 all-time meetings.