Jarrett Lee played the entire Nov. 5th game, Alabama would have been 14-0. If he played in the BCS game, we would still have won easily. Lee couldn’t do anything against Alabama.

I’m not saying that Jarrett Lee has proven to be a great college quarterback, but even though we have never met I do respect the young man. Against Alabama the other night, I doubt if any college QB would have had much success, and I’m not suggesting Lee could have changed the outcome. I do think his statistics against Alabama over his career do not tell the entire story. 2008: 4 INTs, but he was a freshman who was originally not on the depth chart, the Ryan Perriloux fiasco and no other scholarship QBs put him in on the field too early. 2009: 1 INT after the Jefferson injury, but I think we were already down by 2 scores. 2010: no INT in the 2QB system, and he completed a long (over 40 yards) pass on 3rd at the end which allowed LSU to practically run the clock out. 2011: he had the 2 INTs.

Of course we have no idea about what may or may not have happened in practice. Rumors of grade problems proved untrue because Lee earned his degree after the Fall semester. After the Bama game, however, he threw 5 passes the remainder of the season. His stats before Bama were not great, but efficient in that the offense put up points against ranked teams and did not turn the ball over. In many ways, he would be comparable to many former QBs on teams with strong D and running games. This past season till the Alabama game, it would not be unreasonable to compare Lee’s 2011 stats to those of McElroy in 2009.

Jarrett Lee is probably a better QB than most Alabama fans think, but he is probably not as good as some LSU fans think. The most popular player when a team loses is usually the backup QB. If McCarron had the fumbled snaps and more importantly that glare/blame of a teammate that Jefferson had toward Ware following the interception, I suspect Saban would have at least given him an earful on the sidelines if not pulled him for at least one series regardless of experience or ability of the backup.

Given the body language of the starting player, you would think some change or reaction would have occurred for a series at least. As for the pass rush excuse, one well timed slant, screen, or fade may have altered the defensive philosophy to a degree. Despite the total domination, 2 Bama mistakes, LSU lucky breaks, or great plays would have caused some stress before the final TD. If I had only seen McCarron in game 1, I would not have thought him capable of the touch of a few of the out patterns he hit against good coverage and under a good rush. Like with Lee, I do not know the full story there, but McCarron seemed to go from thinking and aiming to trusting his ability somewhere between game 1 and 2. I would not be surprised to see him as a potential Heisman candidate in the future.

The questions about Lee, may or may not be answered in the future. Regardless, this young man stuck it out and overcame being overwhelmed after playing too early and was the starting QB for one of the 2 best teams in the country for most of the season. He easily could have transferred after being dissed his freshman year. He may have thrived in either the Pac or Big 12, and he may have an NFL career. I doubt few college graduates would turn down an NFL salary.