Stop it. Just stop it right now.

You’ll only hurt yourself.

This is all just one big, cruel tease, this whole, convoluted, click-bait notion that somehow LSU has progressed enough in its last two games to suddenly step up and beat Alabama, Nick Saban and everything the Rammer Jammers hold dear to their Crimson hearts.

Happens most every season, usually around this time of year.

But we’ve seen this movie before. We all know how it ends.

I know it. You know it. Or at least you should know it by now.

Yet at my high school reunion over the weekend, virtually every former classmate at some point would sidle up and ask, “So this next Saturday, do you think there’s any possible way that …”

No. Not a chance.

Short answer, but effective.

So save yourself some pain, suffering and heartache. Don’t fall for this foolishness again.

Be happy that Brian Kelly seems to be on the right track with the Tigers, probably a little ahead of schedule in changing the culture of LSU football.

He seems to have the right formula and the know-how. Good for him. There will likely come a year, some day, when LSU is again on equal footing with Bama.

That day is not this week.

So just quit fretting about it.

Instead, right on schedule, LSU tunes up with two consecutive victories, including by far the most impressive of the budding Kelly Era in stomping then-No. 7 Ole Miss (45-20), and the blind optimists come rolling out of the woodwork.

For one thing, a program whose fans lollygag rush the field after beating Ole Miss is not ready to — and DOES NOT — beat Alabama in its next game.

To their credit, I do not recall any “Bring on Bama” chants.

Still, the hopeful anticipation builds … just enough of an opening to dream on.

The quarterbacking lightbulb went off in Jayden Daniels’ head in recent weeks and that seems to be the ticket.

And the Tigers had a relaxing open date to further fine-tune things — never mind that Bama was enjoying the same time off.

The College Football Playoff Committee played along, surprisingly putting the Tigers at 10 in their first ranking on Tuesday — four sports behind Alabama.

Next thing you know, some media fool with a national podium will furrow his brows and use serious inflections to put the Crimson Tide on the dreaded Upset Alert.

Please …

That hasn’t been a cure-all in the past.

Remember a few weeks ago, just as things looked bleakest for LSU after the Tennessee demolition, when I warned you not to be surprised if Gainesville, Florida, might be the perfect spot for LSU to turn the whole season around?

History foretold it.

History does not bode well for the Tigers this week.

Forever, it seems, the Tigers — be they good or mediocre teams — seemed to be peaking just in time for Alabama.

Optimism was rampant, the fan base rocking, there would even be something early that got everything truly abuzz.

But in the end, Bama ends up being Bama. A play here, a spurt there, maybe even a late unlikely Tide winning drive, but it’s always the same outcome.

And don’t throw 2019 in my face.

That insults both of us. That LSU team was different, the likes of which we may never see again (and don’t let current Tennessee tell you any differently). No “hopeful optimism” there. That team knew it was going to beat Alabama, so did you and me and it shouldn’t have been as close as the 46-41 final.

Or I guess you want to tell me how this year’s LSU team looks far better than last year’s and that those Tigers were one play from pulling off a mega-upset of an Alabama team that was better than this one and LSU that did it IN TUSCALOOSA?

I did not say it wouldn’t be close.

Many are. But it’s always another what if or a rotten call, maybe an inches-short third down that turns the Tide.

And, keep in mind, — Bama thinks Tiger Stadium is its own personal bayou timeshare. LSU seems to play much better in Tuscaloosa.

The proper course for an LSU fan is to just wish the Tigers well, applaud the effort, and hope they come out the other side healthy enough for a respectable finish.

Sure, it’s OK to aim high, to think big, to dream the impossible dream.

That’s what fans do.

But to summarize, no matter what happens, just keep in mind that …

Well, OK. Just keep in mind that I’ve been way wrong before.

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Scooter Hobbs covers LSU athletics. Email him at scooter.hobbs@americanpress.com