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BATON ROUGE — It was a much more frightening hit to the Capital City than Hurricane Isaac delivered. Newly crowned LSU starting quarterback Zach Mettenberger looked like he was blindsided when the back of his head snapped back and he hit the Tiger Stadium grass. But he was actually sacked from the front side by blitzing North Texas cornerback Hilbert Jackson in the first quarter Saturday night of No. 1 LSU's 41-14 season-opening victory. Mettenberger, a junior from Watkinsville, Ga., should have seen the whole thing coming, but he did not until it was too late. The next thing he knew, he was flat on his back and motionless. Gradually, he got up and walked to the sidelines, but he was visibly groggy. He soon returned to the game after being checked for a concussion that he apparently did not suffer, but LSU coach Les Miles wants to make sure his quarterback has his head on straight in the future. "I prefer that we protect our quarterback," Miles said. "But that being said, that's one of those things that he has to learn — to get the ball out and to recognize the defense that's being played." Jackson blew untouched by right tackle Alex Hurst, who was blocking a lineman. No running back offered any resistance either because Mettenberger did not check into the right protection before the third-and-three play. "Coach called the blitz for me so I just came off, and I saw him there and I stuck him," Jackson said. Read more: http://www.lohud.com/article/DG/20120903/SPORTS01/209030314/Mettenberger-survives-scary-hit?odyssey=nav|head

Zach Mettenberger is looking forward to the day when people begin to judge him on what he's doing instead of what he's done. After a tumultuous — and brief — stint with Georgia and a year in junior college to repair his image, Mettenberger will take the field as LSU's starting quarterback against North Texas on Saturday. And it will be a relief. "Without a doubt it's a chance to start over," Mettenberger told Yahoo! Sports. "I've got to take advantage of this and win a couple ballgames so people can finally stop talking about my past and more about my present and future." Mettenberger signed with Georgia in 2009 out of Oconee County High in Watkinsville, Ga., and was in a hotly contested starting quarterback race with Aaron Murray and Logan Gray (who ended up transferring to Colorado). But in March of 2010, Mettenberger was arrested outside of a local bar after allegedly grabbing the breasts and buttocks of a woman, and also was charged with underage consumption and possession of alcohol, possessing fake identification and disorderly conduct-obstruction. He ultimately pleaded guilty to two counts of misdemeanor sexual battery, the alcohol-related charges were dropped, and he was sentenced to two concurrent, 12-month probationary periods under the state of Georgia's first-offender act. He also was ordered to pay $2,000 in fines and 40 hours of community service. Read more: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaaf-dr-saturday/zach-mettenberger-hopes-people-forget-past-focus-future-200320393--ncaaf.html