Les Miles talked a lot about change in the week leading up to the New Mexico State game. He spoke of changing the way things looked for the Tigers, opening up the offense and finding answers. And after Brandon Harris nearly carried the Tigers to a comeback win against Mississippi State, he spoke of getting his freshman more playing time.

Of course, none of that happened once the lights came on and the ball was rolled out. What LSU got was one of the ugliest first quarter-and-change of football fans in Tiger Stadium are likely to ever see, which came with Anthony Jennings running the show. The sophomore was cover-your-eyes awful, only being bailed out by a rejuvenated Terrence Magee breaking off a couple of nice runs and the defense breaking out the nastiness to get a pick-6 while shutting down the Aggies offense.

In the first quarter alone, Jennings gave the ball away on a fumble off of a zone-read keeper and threw two interceptions, both on bad decisions and worse throws. On both interceptions, Jennings attempted to force the ball to his favorite, and seemingly only target, Travin Dural. The first was an overthrow down the middle, the second an underthrown ball to the sideline.

Despite the offense struggling to pick up any yardage, Miles and offensive coordinator Cam Cameron continued to run Jennings out there for eight series, and continued their uncreative play calling with power runs. The formations might have changed, but the results did not.

It took until five minutes into the second quarter for the coaching staff to put in their freshman, despite Jennings’ abysmal performance. It’s a fool’s errand to try to get into an athlete’s mind, but Jennings played like a man without confidence. After the turnovers, Miles gave Jennings a bit of a leash, possibly to avoid crushing the sophomore’s confidence for good. Even when he didn’t turn the ball over, Jennings was missing passes he should have been hitting, while the run game puttered along.

But once Brandon Harris came in after what felt like an eternity on the bench, with the student section chanting his name, the offense sprang to life. The line fired off the ball with renewed energy, the running backs started smashing through defenders. On Harris’ first drive, the Tigers picked up more first downs (6) than they did in Jennings’s eight drives (5).

Once Harris took over, the Tigers finally looked like the team full of explosive athletes they are. Harris rolled out of the pocket and threw frozen ropes. The running backs, specifically Leonard Fournette, got moving against the overmatched Aggies. Most telling, they ran all of one play with Harris lined up under center, letting the athletic quarterback be an athlete. After looking like the worst team in the SEC for the first 20 minutes of the game, LSU exploded in the last 10 minutes of the half, springing to a 42-7 lead following four straight scoring drives led by Harris.

The only question is: What took so long?