LSU came into the season with some key questions for the season, and those questions remain as the No. 21 Tigers prepare for their home opener against Jacksonville State on Saturday in Baton Rouges Tiger Stadium.Still unsettled after the opening 16-14 loss to Wisconsin last week:--Is quarterback Brandon Harris any more advanced as a leader and consistent playmaker in his junior season than he was as a freshman or a sophomore?The answer was no, at least against the Badgers. Harris was indecisive and careless, leading to a poor overall offensive performance. The numbers showed him completing 12 of 21 passes for 131 yards and a touchdown with two interceptions, the last snuffing out a final drive that seemingly had the Tigers in position for a field goal--Will the rebuilt offensive line find early season continuity after some shuffling during preseason camp?Again the first-game returns yielded a negative response, which contributed to Harris troubles and those of the offense as a whole. The Tigers also will be without Josh Bouette, who started at right guard, for his late hit in the loss to the Badgers.--Will new defensive coordinator Dave Aranda be able to return the defense to the elite level it enjoyed when LSU was a national-championship contender at the start of the decade?Though the defense yielded just 16 points and created three turnovers, it also allowed the Badgers to hold the ball for the majority of the game (36 minutes, 57 seconds).The defense was better than Harris and the offensive line, but still not good enough for LSU to win a game it had every opportunity to win.As a defensive backfield, we killed the team because we know that we needed the offense to get the ball back and we just didnt make the plays when we needed, cornerback TreDavious White said. That definitely hurts because I know how hard the whole team worked the whole time.As a result, the Tigers performance fell well short of what one would expect from team ranked No. 5 in the preseason poll.We knew what was at stake this season, LSU cornerback TreDavious White said. Our goal is to win it all and to go undefeated. Its a hurtful feeling.The Tigers also got off to a slow start with their running game, and the plan to lessen the burden on junior running back Leonard Fournette proved futile. He had 23 of the teams 29 rushes and netted more rushing yards (138) than the Tigers wound up with as a team (126).He tweaked an ankle on his last carry, a 15-yard run to Wisconsins 30-yard line, and had to come out of the game. He is considered a game-day decision per whether or not he will play against the Gamecocks.Other than that, one of running back Derrius Guices two runs ended in a fumble that Wisconsin took advantage of for its first field goal and Harris four runs, only one was by design. He ended up with a minus-15 yards rushing.Though an FCS level program, Jacksonville State is not a team to be taken lightly, especially by a fragile LSU team.The Gamecocks took Auburn to overtime last year before losing the 27-20 decision.No. 5 in both major FCS polls this time around, the Gamecocks got their season off to a good start with a 31-12 victory over North Alabama last week.Senior quarterback Eli Jenkins accounted for 331 yards in total offense (230 passing, 102 rushing) and former Auburn running back Roc Thomas, who transferred last summer, had 71 yards and three touchdowns on 20 carries.Thomas is one of two Jacksonville State running backs with SEC experience. Josh Clemmons transferred from Kentucky for the 2015 campaign but saw his season cut short by injury. He had 28 yards on six carries last week. Freshman Tyus Flakes had 72 yards on just 12 runs.The Gamecocks do not go into the game with any sense of fear or awe.It gives us a chance to prove that we can play against anyone and play in front of more folks that would we normally not play in front of with the big crowds, Jenkins said. It gives us a chance to show what we got and a great opportunity to play our best football. Custom Blue Jays T-shirts . Miikka Kiprusoff had just announced his retirement after a decade-long run in Calgary and it would be up to Berra and Ramo to fill the void. Cheap Custom Blue Jays Jersey . -- Playing time has been limited for Maxim Tissot this season, so the Montreal Impact defender made the most of his first scoring opportunity on Saturday. http://www.custombluejaysjersey.com/ . Traditional contenders Brazil, Greece and Turkey drew the other three spots to complete the 24-team field for this summers tournament in Spain, basketball governing body FIBA announced Saturday at its meeting in Barcelona. Wholesale Custom Blue Jays Shirts .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable. Custom Blue Jays Jerseys . The 28-year-old from Calgary matched his career best after missing just one shot in his two rounds of shooting in the mens 10-kilometre sprint competition. Smith finished in 23 minutes 15. ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Nathan MacKinnon had been waiting for the puck to go in for him. The Colorado Avalanche center entered his fourth NHL season with plenty of promise, only to score just twice in the seasons first 15 games.The top overall draft pick in 2013 was feeling a bit better Saturday night after scoring the game-winning goal.MacKinnon brought the puck up the center of the ice and used a Wild defenseman to screen his shot, scoring with 10 minutes left to finish off Colorados third-period comeback. He added an assist in the Avalanches 3-2 win at Minnesota.MacKinnon has scored in back-to-back games to rekindle hopes of a big season after he signed a seven-year, $44.1 million contract extension in the offseason.I feel like Ive had a lot of good chances the first 17 games, MacKinnon said. When I went 10 straight without a goal, I felt like, you dont deserve goals, but you feel like youre around the net and it should start going in. It was tough there for a while and its nice to finally see a couple go in, for sure.Calvin Pickard stopped 41 shots in beating the Wild for the second time this season. Hes allowed two goals on 73 shots.If youre sharp, they throw a lot of pucks to the net and both games weve played weve been good at boxing out rebounds and letting me see the puck, Pickard said. We did that again tonight, with big efforts from our D and our forwards helping out down low as well.The Avalanche trailed 2-0 heading into the final period, but goals by Mikko Rantanen and Carl Soderberg just 3 minutes apart tied the game.Devan Dubnyk made 31 saves for Minnesota, but his shutout streak was snapped at 156 minutes, 6 seconds. Charlie Coyle and Tyler Graovac scored for the Wild, who had been 6-0-1 when leading after two periods.We stopped playing, Dubnyk said. I dont know what happened. Thats not like us. Things are going to happen, and they might get one or two, but we just stopped playing in our end. I dont know if we thought it was going to be an easy third with the way the game was going, but we had a pretty good game going and thats a waste of a game.ddddddddddddolorado earned its first victory of the season when trailing after two. The Avalanche were 0-9-0 when entering the second intermission with a deficit.Third periods havent been our friend this season, MacKinnon said. Weve been struggling late in games. For whatever reason, we cant seem to tie it up and get the win. Were going to feed off this. Scoring three goals in the third period is big, after being shut out after two. Beating a goalie like Dubnyk is no easy task.Dubnyk had allowed just nine goals in his previous nine starts.The flurry of goals came in the third, but the teams traded shots in the first. They combined for 41 shots in the period, setting a Minnesota record for one period. The Wild had 21 shots, a franchise mark for the first period.Game notes Minnesota forward Zach Parise was scratched prior to the game with an illness. He had returned to play two games after missing six because of a lower-body injury. ... Colorado C Matt Duchene (concussion) missed his fourth straight game, while F Gabriel Landeskog (lower-body injury) missed his second game in a row. ... The Avalanche were fifth in the NHL in most penalty minutes per game coming in and proceeded to take five minor penalties. The Wild went 1 of 4 on the power play. ... Minnesota started a stretch of three straight games and four of five against Central Division opponents. ... Wild D Marco Scandella (high ankle sprain) returned to practice Friday. Scandella has missed eight games and is eligible to return from long-term injured reserve next week.UP NEXTAvalanche: Colorados three-game road trip ends Monday against the Columbus Blue Jackets.Wild: Minnesota has a one-game trip to Dallas on Monday. ' ' '