Jake Retzlaff botched his first play against Northwestern, failing to get close enough to Maurice Turner for a simple handoff before improvising a 1-yard run on an unplanned keeper.

He spent the rest of Saturday proving that mistake was a one-off, showing just how well he had handled the Herculean task of picking up an offense in less than 40 days.

Never mind his 265 total yards in the 23-3 season-opening victory, which included becoming the first Green Wave quarterback to rush for 100 in a game since Shaun King versus BYU in the 1998 Liberty Bowl. Even more impressive was the way he minimized mistakes and made his teammates feel comfortable around him with little time on task in New Orleans.

“Jake’s a dog,” nickelback Javion White said after Retzlaff’s no-interception, one-sack perfo

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