Welcome to the Bayou Bengal Briefing, SEC Country’s daily morning column covering LSU football with LSU beat writer Nick Suss. Today, we discuss quarterbacks, tough losses, love of the game, Beyonce and more. Enjoy!

Let’s talk about quarterbacks

Today, I’m going to start the Bayou Bengal Briefing by doing what I always do after a slow LSU football news weekend: talk about quarterbacks.

SEC Country reporter Connor Smolensky wrote a column Sunday picking early favorites to win all of the SEC’s quarterback battles in 2017. Included in that bunch, obviously, is LSU and the mixed-up tangle the Tigers created by bringing in a new offensive coordinator and two freshmen passers.

Before I get into the argument I’m about to make, I want to start with the caveat I give any time I talk about quarterbacks here. I think Danny Etling did a good job in 2016 and is LSU’s best option at quarterback heading into 2017. That said, I completely understand why people want to see a change. Etling was good and the offense moved the ball, but he didn’t inspire much optimism beyond being merely capable.

So, here’s the point I want to make today: In my opinion, the best way to solve a problem is by consulting Occam’s razor. For those of you unfamiliar with 12th century British philosophers, Occam’s razor states that when you’re choosing between a series of hypotheses, choose the one that forces you to make the fewest assumptions. In other words, the obvious choice is usually the right choice.

Translate this to LSU football’s quarterback controversy. You hardly have to make any assumptions for Etling. Will he fit into Matt Canada’s system? Yes. He’s almost exactly the same size and type of passer as Canada’s last quarterback — Pitt’s Nathan Peterman — and both were also graduate transfers who found success at their second schools. Can he command an offense? Yes. He did that last season. Will he be able to compete against elite defenses? Well, he wasn’t spectacular in 2016, but he held his own against every team except Alabama.

By comparison, here are the questions LSU’s other quarterbacks need answered:

• Brandon Harris: Will he bounce back psychologically after being benched? Does he have the decision-making ability to succeed in the SEC? Will his deep-heaving style of play match Canada’s more intricate offense?
• Lindsey Scott Jr.: Is he too small to play major college football? Could he step up and lead a veteran offense as a redshirt freshman? How will he look after a year without playing a competitive snap? Is his arm developed enough to make throws against D-I defenders?
• Justin McMillan: Has he improved enough in the last two years to justify jumping Etling or Harris now? Will he fit into Canada’s system? Can he adjust to the demands of starting a college football game?
• Lowell Narcisse: Is he healthy? When will he be able to practice at 100 percent? Is it wise to throw a true freshman to the wolves after missing a year of action? Can he lead a team as a true freshman? Can he adjust to the demands of college life and the talent of college defenses?
• Myles Brennan: Pretty much every question attached to Scott and Narcisse, minus the injury and size concerns, plus adjusting from a high school spread offense to a more run-based system.

The razor made my decision before me. But I’ll leave this one up to you. Speaking of which …

LSU football poll question

If it was up to you, who would you want to start at quarterback for LSU in 2017? Vote in the poll below. I’ll recap your answers in Bayou Bengal Briefing on Tuesday.

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LSU football players are just like you: Grammy’s Edition

The Grammy Awards were Sunday night and music’s best was on hand to honor itself for being talented. I didn’t personally watch, but I’m sure some of you did.

And I’m even more sure that some LSU football players did. Because they were as in awe of Beyonce´as you were.

Harris started off the tweetstorm with a prediction that ultimately came true:

#Beyonce about to break the internet.

— Brandon Harris (@B6Harris) February 13, 2017

Punter Zach Von Rosenberg came back with either a sincere compliment or a sarcastic blowback:

So Beyoncé is Jesus? #Grammys

— Zach Von Rosenberg (@ZVR09) February 13, 2017

And former defensive tackle Davon Godchaux validated Harris’ prediction with confirmation on his end:

Beyoncé always breaks the internet ????

— Godchaux (@dgodch1) February 13, 2017

If I knew a single Beyonce´song that’s come out in the last three years, I would totally feel compelled to go watch that performance right now.

Arbitrary Analysis, part 1

We’re four days away from the best season of the year. That’s right, baseball season officially starts on Friday when LSU hosts Air Force at Alex Box Stadium.

So, to honor this joyous occasion, I’m going to use the week to count down my picks for my 5 favorite baseball movies. Keep in mind, I’m talking favorite. This has very little to do with best. Though I do stand by my picks.

You probably won’t. Let’s start with No. 5.

No. 5: The Sandlot

I’m gonna be honest with you guys, I wanted to put The Benchwarmers at No. 5 instead of The Sandlot. And I probably should’ve because I love that movie. But not putting The Sandlot on my list would’ve felt wrong.

Sure, this movie could never be made today. And yeah, half of the charm of this movie is that we grew up watching it, so it seems better than it is. But that shouldn’t take anything away from the fact that this movie captured what it’s like to be a kid and love baseball better than anything else ever has.

Don’t lie to yourself. You quote this movie a couple times a month and half the time you don’t even realize it. It’s silly and campy and badly acted and weirdly offensive at certain points. But it’s a really fun movie. It belongs in my top 5.

Check back to the Bayou Bengal Briefing tomorrow for my No. 4 pick.

Speaking of LSU baseball …

The LSU baseball team got either good or bad news Sunday night, and it’s hard to say which.

Junior outfielder and vaunted power hitter Greg Deichmann underwent surgery Sunday morning after fracturing his cheekbone Friday when he was hit by an errant pitch in a team scrimmage. Coach Paul Mainieri put Deichmann’s status as “day to day” and didn’t rule him out for Tigers’ season opener against Air Force on Friday.

If Deichmann is unable to go, LSU will be without its No. 3 and No. 4 hitters this weekend, as All-SEC designated hitter Bryce Jordan is out for the season after injuring his knee last week. Because of these injuries, LSU is going to have to rely on pitching and small ball even more than it already planned on. And while this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it severely hurts the positive vibes flowing toward the program heading into a season where the team was picked to win the SEC.

Since Deichmann is day to day one day after the surgery, it’s intuitive to assume he won’t be out for too long. But if he misses even a significant chunk of just LSU’s nonconference schedule, the team might suffer seriously in national exposure and ranking.

Last weekend in non-revenue LSU sports

Outside of baseball players getting injured, what went down in LSU’s smaller sports over the weekend? Let’s take a team-by-team look:

• Softball: The LSU softball team opened its season with five games, going 4-1 in its quintet of games against Oklahoma State, Penn State and McNeese State. LSU won its first and fourth games of the weekend series by mercy rule, leading to a weekend where the Tigers outscored their opponents, 40-15.
• Gymnastics: The No. 2-ranked LSU gymnastics squad posted its second-best score of the season in a 197.700-196.325 win against Arkansas Friday. Next up for LSU is arguably the biggest meet of the regular season, a quad meet against No. 1 Oklahoma, as well as Georgia and Missouri.
• Men’s tennis: LSU men’s tennis fell to 1-4 on the season with a 5-2 loss to North Florida.
• Track and field: LSU posted four top-5 and 10 top-10 finishes in the Tyson Invitational and Iowa State Classic meets Friday and Saturday.

And then there’s LSU basketball …

For the first time in the LSU basketball team’s 11-game losing streak, the Tigers played a game they deserved to win Saturday. It didn’t matter.

The Tigers blew a 14-point lead to lose to Arkansas, 78-70, Saturday night, marking possibly the saddest and lowest moment of the streak. Don’t believe me? Check out these stats:

• LSU grabbed 20 more rebounds than Arkansas.
• The Tigers scored 40 points in the paint. Arkansas scored 20.
• LSU had 21 second-chance points. Arkansas had 5.
• LSU led for more than 20 minutes, had more assists than Arkansas and held the Razorbacks to two points in transition and to under 50 percent shooting from the field.
• Arkansas won.

What was the difference? Johnny Jones said it was turnovers. The Tigers turned it over 10 times in the second half and Arkansas scored 14 points off those turnovers. But you can also fault LSU’s half-court defense. Arkansas made seven 3-pointers in the first nine minutes of the second half, almost twice as many as LSU made all game.

Any way you slice it, this was the most heartbreaking loss LSU has suffered all season. It was close, but, more important, it was a game the Tigers should’ve won.

Those don’t come around very often. You gotta make the best of ’em.

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