By David Vitrano

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – LSU opened their 2011 football season Saturday with a rather convincing win over No. 3 Oregon.

Before the game began, however, there was much doubt and controversy surrounding the team as an off-the-field incident had been a major distraction resulting in the indefinite suspension of two players, including starting quarterback Jordan Jefferson. Because of this, last week L’Observateur asked visitors to its website how they thought the turmoil would affect the Tigers’ football season.

It apparently takes more than a few player suspensions to shake the faith River Parishes residents have in the Tigers as nearly two-thirds of respondents thought the drama surrounding the opening of LSU football season would have little to no effect on the team’s success. Those voters were split pretty evenly between those who thought the suspensions would create some minor issues for the team and those who thought the team was too deep for the suspensions to make much of an impact. The former did enjoy a slight majority, however.

Regarding the remaining respondents, nearly one-fourth of voters felt the suspensions and related turmoil would be too much for the Tigers to overcome, and the remaining voters felt LSU’s schedule was just too tough, with or without the suspensions.

A full breakdown of results follows:

• 29 percent of respondents chose “The Tigers are too talented! The distractions won’t be an issue.”

• 32 percent of respondents chose “Key players being gone will lead to a few issues, but the team will still be successful.”

• 24 percent of respondents chose “The pressure will be too much, and the team will implode.”

• 15 percent of respondents chose “Even without the distractions, the Tigers’ schedule is just too tough this year.”