At LSU or other top programs, quarterbacks don’t wait around to play anymore

He played superbly and LSU won convincingly.

If that happens, again, Saturday at Auburn, does true freshman TJ Finley remain as the starting quarterback for the Tigers?

Better yet, how do you keep Myles Brennan, when he’s healthy, on the bench?

All Brennan did in three games before an injury was throw 11 touchdown passes and pass for 1,112 yards.

Those are the best numbers ever for an LSU quarterback in his first three starts.

However, it is hard to argue against what Finley provided LSU in a 52-24 win over South Carolina.

The former Ponchatoula standout showed unwavering poise. He threw the ball accurately. The 6-foot-6 Finley also provided at least some semblance of a red zone run threat.

And it is clear that his teammates responded.

Finley drove LSU to a touchdown on his opening college drive and never looked back.

Quarterback controversies seem to happen mostly on bad teams, but they can happen on good and even outstanding teams as well.

In the weeks before the CFP championship game in January of 2018, Alabama backup quarterback Tua Tagovailoa had performed brilliantly in practice.

So when the Crimson Tide was shut out in the first half of the championship game against Georgia, Nick Saban pulled Jalen Hurts and sent Tagovailoa into the game.

Alabama trailed 13-0 but won the game in overtime on a 41-yard pass from Tagovailoa to DeVonta Smith.

At Clemson, head coach Dabo Swinney had seen enough of true freshman quarterback Trevor Lawrence in practice to know he had something special.

Kelly Bryant, who had struggled in a Sugar Bowl loss the previous season to Alabama, remained the starter. He soon departed the program with a record of 19-2.

“You have to earn it and (Lawrence) he hadn’t earned it in camp,” said Swinney at the time. “But, I told our guys, if there’s a change, we’ll all know it.”

Lawrence threw four touchdown passes in a win over Georgia Tech.

And with a text message Bryant had left the program.

In today’s college football, the days of having a Matt Flynn are likely over.

At LSU, Flynn redshirted in the 2003 season. In 2004, he was the third-stringer behind Marcus Randall and JaMarcus Russell when his biggest contribution was as a holder on placekicks.

In 2005, he was a backup to Russell.

But when Russell was injured, Flynn started the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl and led the Tigers to a 40-3 rout of Miami.

A year later, he was back on the bench.

In 2007, as a fifth-year senior, he led LSU to the BCS national championship.

Flynn had the patience of Job and then some.

Those 13 years seem like long ago. These are the days of the transfer portal, where a player can quickly declare for free agency.

So here’s a fact that no one can deny.

The LSU quarterback room is crowded with talented signal callers.

Chances of any of them having as much patience as Flynn would seem to be just about nil.

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