OK, kiddos, gather around. Pull up a chair, get comfortable and be sure to bring a healthy grain of salt.

Yes, it’s that time again, with another LSU football season looming, when we try to sort out all of your questions about the Tigers. I know in the past you could pretty well trust it as a spot-on guide to sum up an LSU season, leaving very little room for surprise.

This season, maybe not so much.

Truth be told, I’ve been all over the map during the intense 15 minutes I thought this essay through, and still can’t wrap my head around a true prediction I’d feel comfortable with.

I might run out of words before you run out of questions, but we trudge on anyway.

So, yes, you in the back …

Question: Can LSU win the SEC West this year?

Answer: No, it can’t. Not possible. And where have you been sleeping?

Q: That bad, huh?

A: No, maybe … we’ll see. But the SEC West doesn’t exist anymore, so it can’t be won. The conference dropped its divisions and threw the expanded league into one bursting sack and turned the race into a 16-team free-for-all. It should be unfettered chaos.

Q: So what would be a successful season for the Tigers?

A: That’s pretty easy. Make the College Football Playoff, which is also a lot different this season with 12 teams instead of four. Being in that number figures to be the benchmark for LSU — and a lot of teams — as we move forward. Conference championships are just lagniappe now.

Q: What is the key for LSU?

A: In the simplest terms there doesn’t figure to be disparity of a year ago, when the Tigers had the best offense in the nation weighted down by one of college football’s worst defenses — certainly the ugliest thing LSU has ever seen on that side of the ball. The defense has to close that gap — and it will — without a ton of drop off on the offensive side.

Q: Lost a Heisman Trophy winner, right?

A: Yes. Garrett Nussmeier will be fine at quarterback. Traditional quarterback. But he won’t be the cheat code for a video-game offense that Jayden Daniels was. But he has the arm and has performed well under some trying circumstances when the opportunity his arose during his apprenticeship.

Q: But didn’t Daniels have two first-round picks as receivers? Anybody left for Nussmeier to throw to?

A: They will be fine there. It’s LSU, where wide receivers are as abundant as crawfish and often fall out of trees, where they immediately start running post patterns. Kyren Lacey and Chris Hilton figure to be next dynamic duo, but there are others as well.

Q: What’s the strength of the offense?

A: Easy. Maybe the best offensive line in the country, certainly right there in the discussion. It’s not as glamorous as the gazelles at the skill positions, but if you’re rebuilding an offense, it’s a pretty good place to start.

Q: Might the Tigers lean more on the running game?

A: They were second in the SEC in rushing last year, 205 yards per game— but, OK, almost half of those yards, 95 per game, were from Daniels’ antics. It may have to be more of an honest running attack this time.

Q: With who?

A: Probably another running back by committee, one of the few positions you can get away with that. Josh Williams is the most dependable, but Kalen Jackson could emerge as a bell cow.

Q: Fine. How can they make the defense better?

A: Just show up — it couldn’t be any worse. Last in the SEC.

Q: Second to last?

A: Well, maybe if you count Vanderbilt.

Q: Seriously?

A: It might not be as hopeless as it would seem for a quick rebuild. Head coach Brian Kelly fired his entire defensive staff. That’s not always the answer. Fans are quick to blame coaching, but it might have had merit last year. Time and time again defenders looked out of place, lost in space, even running around seemingly with their heads cut off while watching chunk play after chunk play negate their offense’s handiwork. They needed the coaching changes.

Q: And don’t get us started on how they misused Harold Perkins Jr., the biggest star. Have they fixed that?

A: Exactly. Kelly hired Blake Baker away from Missouri to get things straightened out. There’s still idle chatter that Perkins will play inside linebacker, but expect to see him moved around more as they kind of invent a position for his free-lancing talents. The scuttlebutt is that Baker likes a much more aggressive style, which is always music to fans’ ears.

Q: Can you rate the three levels of the defense?

A: Linebacker. Defensive front. Secondary.

Q: Which one has to make the biggest jump?

A: There was blame to spread around, but the secondary was the most glaring. Coach Corey Raymond, a remnant from LSU’s DBU days, was brought back. Expect big improvement there. Cornerback Ashton Stamps could blossom into a star.

Q: How does the schedule shake out?

A: Not bad considering it’s littered with SEC teams. But probably the three toughest — Alabama, Ole Miss and Oklahoma — are all at home.

Q: So who wins the SEC?

A: Georgia is the heavy favorite, but I’ll go with a longer shot — Ole Miss, with an improved defense.

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