Better late than never

LSU's offense wakes up just in time to avoid disaster against Oregon St.

Breaking in a new quarterback can often be a long, arduous process. For LSU, it took 59 minutes -- 59 of the longest minutes Tigers fans have ever endured.

On the ropes for nearly their entire season-opening game against Oregon State on Saturday, looking nothing short of impotent on offense, the co-defending national champs eventually pulled out a thrilling, 22-21 overtime victory in part because Beavers kicker Alexis Serna missed three extra points, but mostly because the Tigers' quarterbacks, JaMarcus Russell and Marcus Randall, came out of their shells just in the nick of time.

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Facing a ferocious Oregon State defense (can we please, finally, put to rest the "Pac-10 doesn't play defense" myth?), LSU struggled nearly the entire night to develop any kind of rhythm. While its dominant-yet-again defense barely seemed to miss departing stars Chad Lavalais and Marquise Hill, the offense couldn't have looked more helpless in its first outing without veteran QB Matt Mauck and playmaking receivers Michael Clayton and Devery Henderson. After relieving an utterly ineffective Randall after halftime, Russell, the much-hyped redshirt freshman, showed flashes of his ability in leading a 79-yard scoring drive to cut the Beavers' lead to 9-7, but for the most part he was not on the same page as his equally young receivers. Never was that more apparent than on 4th and goal at the 3 with just under three minutes remaining, when he overthrew a wide-open Skyler Green in the end zone in what appeared to be the Tigers' last gasp.

With slightly more than a minute left, however, Russell got another chance, and proceeded to lead a defining, game-tying drive, completing throws of 26 and 38 yards to classmate Dwayne Bowe.

Then, after Russell got knocked out in overtime, Randall, who'd previously returned for one play and completed a 23-yard pass, scored the game-winning, 5-yard touchdown on a scramble to the left.

The final numbers were hardly staggering -- Russell was just 10-of-27 for 150 yards, Randall 7-of-17 for 66. But the Tigers now can go about the business of defending their national title knowing their defense certainly will need to continue to be brilliant, but their offense may be in better hands than initially appeared. While Nick Saban isn't likely to pull the plug on Randall just yet, it's clear Russell will be the man sooner rather than later. The nation's top-ranked quarterback recruit a year ago, he has a stronger arm and better mobility than Randall and simply needs to gain experience and composure.

Critics likely will point to Saturday's near-disaster as evidence of LSU's vulnerability, just as many are ready to dismiss USC following its harder-than-expected win over Virginia Tech. To do so, however, is to diminish Oregon State, which provided a more-than-legitimate test. That the Tigers' young offense would struggle shouldn't be altogether surprising considering the Beavers ranked seventh in the country in total defense last season. On a positive note, the LSU defense absolutely mauled 4,000-yard passer Derek Anderson, banging him up badly enough to render the downfield pass nearly moot.

However, the game should serve as a tangible reminder to the co-defending champs that nothing will come easy in their follow-up campaign. In two weeks, the Tigers will be traveling to Auburn's Jordan-Hare Stadium. Two weeks after that they'll be at Georgia's Sanford Stadium. The offense will have to become more productive in a hurry if they hope to survive that stretch unscathed.

However, if we've learned anything so far in this young season, it's that nearly all the expected contenders have their question marks. USC's receivers, like LSU's, are still learning the ropes. Oklahoma's defense looked vulnerable at times against Bowling Green. Georgia surrendered nearly 300 rushing yards to Georgia Southern.

Like those teams, LSU must hope its early positives eventually win out over the negatives. It must hope the final 90 seconds of regulation and overtime against Oregon State were more of a beginning than an ending.

Stewart Mandel covers college sports for SI.com.