Don’t everybody rush the podium at once here, but you had to see this coming, right?

It was as predictable as Tuesday following Monday … or player opt-outs after a lesser bowl invite.

Yes, of course, LSU held the dreaded players-only meeting this week. Monday, I guess it was.

They’re common when a season goes awry, a desperate attempt to keep from running totally off the rails amidst rumors, innuendo and social media meltdowns.

It’s part of the process of a struggling, frustrated, underachieving football team. It generally comes somewhere between denial, the beleaguered coach’s vote of confidence and random sightings of the rumored wish-list coach’s wife house-hunting near campus.

Fans mostly go into a four-alarm panic with cries of anguish that the whole sordid streak might cost the team a recruit or two.

But a three-game losing streak like LSU is waddling through — a season that began with lofty aspirations — is just about guaranteed to call the players (no coaches, of course) to order, en masse.

Brian Kelly didn’t need the vote of confidence. It would only have been redundant.

In his back pocket, he’s got a contract with a buyout — real money, somewhere in the $60-million neighborhood — that assures he gets ample opportunity to right this flailing ship. Nothing to see here on that front, folks. The collateral damage should be limited to an assistant coach or three walking the plank, and the rumors have already begun there.

It was, however, time for the inevitable players-only meeting.

I can’t recall one of these come-to-Jesus-meetings having much effect.

But you almost have to have one, else folks will think you’re not trying or don’t care.

The fans are gathered outside the castle moat, torches aflame and banging at the gates — retreat to a players-only meeting.

Other signs were lining up as well.

Spoiler alert: None of this would mean diddly or raise a single eyebrow if LSU was winning.

But, yes, Kelly does occasionally chew out players on the sideline, often right there on national TV.

Yes, the same coach who earlier in the season caught the fans’ ire for not being animated enough on the sideline.

There were other tell-tale signs that it was time, that maybe the “process” was fraying.

Two players, defensive end Bradyn Swinson and safety Sage Ryan, were held out for the first quarter against Florida. No real reason was given, but presumably, it was punishment, not a reward for bringing home straight- A’s. Another defensive end, Da’Shawn Womack, didn’t travel with the team.

During the game, receiver Chris Hilton got a good chewing out from Kelly, an incident that mustered all the amateur lip readers into action. There was a brief something-or-another with another receiver, Kyren Lacey. TV didn’t linger on that one long enough for a proper translation, but apparently it was more heated than common courtesies.

Who knows? Maybe some players’ feelings were bruised.

But quarterback Garrett Nussmeier, linebacker Greg Penn, offensive tackle Will Campbell and running back Josh Williams summoned the meeting to order.

Kelly wasn’t there of course, but said he received positive word from his leadership council.

“The feedback that we got collectively from everybody was that we need to play better and stop making excuses,” Kelly said. “Go out and play and perform and execute.

Of course he said that. What else was he going to say?

Maybe it wasn’t all Kumbaya around the campfire, but hopefully at some point, out of coaches’ earshot, the players took their share of blame.

Publicly, at least, Campbell suggested that’s what happened when they were “just talking things out, trying to get everybody on the same page.

“It’s not a coaching problem, it’s not a scheme,” he said. “It’s none of that. It’s us … whether that’s penalties, missed assignments, whatever you might call it.”

Finally, “It’s not the coaches. They put us in the best positions to win.”

That’s debatable, of course, if only because they’ve been hopelessly out of position far too often. But it’s encouraging if that truly was the consensus.

You don’t even want to know what the next step of a truly deep and out-of-control spiral is.

That would be when you start hearing that a coach “has lost the locker room.”

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