NEW ORLEANS — It was seemingly a little throw-away line at the tail end of a short gushing session following a totally dominant 27-0 LSU victory over BYU.

“Let me say this to you,” head coach Ed Orgeron said on his way out the Superdome door, “We’re going to play faster teams than that.”

He meant no disrespect to the Cougars.

But earlier, almost unnoticed, he’d also said, “Our opponents are going to get tougher.”

No question about that — although it probably won’t be this week when Chattanooga visits Tiger Stadium.

Athletically, LSU was in a different stratosphere than BYU.

But that’s nothing new for the Cougars, who last year lost four games, but by a total of only 10 points.

It’s the BYU M.O. to hang around, play tough and frustrate teams to the point that sometimes a shocker happens that leaves a better team scratching its head. In any case, it usually seems tougher than it should be.

In that sense, BYU was true to form. It salvaged a 27-point loss out what easily could have been 45, 60, who knows.

LSU punted on its first possession, and never again.

The Cougars in this case were pesky as ever without really annoying the Tigers much.

You watched what was happening on the field and you’d glance up at the scoreboard and expect to see more blown-fuse circuitry. The action was dynamic. The scoreboard seemed oblivious to it, a tad sluggish to respond.

So, OK — LSU left some points off the scoreboard. Against a more athletically challenging team, maybe they would have come in handy. Who knows?

“We know that and we will fix it,” Orgeron said.

Other than that, if you’re trying to downplay LSU expectations following this season-opener, I can’t help you.

What was there not to like?

It didn’t look like a season opener.

Sure there are details to be worked out. But for the most part it looked like what we suspected — Orgeron presiding over two hotshot coordinators working their magic with athletes like they’d never been afforded while awaiting a dream job like this.

We’ll go ahead and skip the defense and second-year coordinator Dave Aranda’s diabolical plans. LSU started three true freshmen on defense and played much of the game with four or more.

It doesn’t really matter if BYU didn’t have a skill player who scared LSU much. The Cougars never crossed midfield.

That should happen by accident at least once, particularly with such young shavers thrown into the fracas.

There was concern that the Cougars’ religious beliefs might have been tested if the game stretched past midnight into Sunday, a day the school doesn’t allow athletic events.

It didn’t. 

But the game could have stretched through Sunday and into Tuesday and BYU wasn’t going to score.

Yes, there will be more challenging offenses ahead, but Aranda hasn’t lost his touch.

We’ve seen similar dominance before from him.

Matt Canada’s offense is also off to an encouraging start, albeit still needing a little work in the red zone.

But that’s quibbling.

The debut left you begging for more — and apparently there is more.

On a night when LSU apparently held back most of its passing attack, maybe the most impressive piece was quarterback Danny Etling.

That position is always the knee-jerk question mark for the Tigers. Go ahead and cross that one off your worry-wart list.

You’d been promised a 21st century passing attack, and LSU ran it 57 times and threw it just 18.

But don’t tell me it was predictable.

“We’re going to take what the  defense give us,” said Etling. “They were trying to play soft, daring us to run. That’s what they were giving us and we took it.

“We found the plays we liked and stuck with that and ran it down their throat. Maybe we’ll do something else next week.”

He said it matter-of-factly, as if much of it hasn’t been called up yet but is standing by on speed dial.

It was a different running game than LSU is used to watching — all the shifting and motion alone makes you pay close attention — but the most impressive piece of the night was Etling.

He’s running a new offense, and maybe it’s actually better suited for more of a dual threat quarterback.

Never mind that his throws were on the money all night. He’s healthier, and surely that helps.

But forget the numbers — 14 of 17 for 173 yards. Or that it seemed like more.

It’s just hard to remember when –an LSU quarterback looked so comfortable, so totally in command of an offense that he was running as Etling was Saturday night.

It’s been more common to avert your eyes.

But, first game overreaction or not, this is looking like a fun season to watch the Tigers.

LSU head coach Ed Orgeron leads his team onto the field.

Scott Threlkeld/Associated Press