Here’s how good LSU’s offense is: The Tigers have had to put in a call or signal or secret handshake or somesuch telling its players, in certain situations, to quit scoring. “Downtown,”  they call it, which means to get down and not score by whatever means necessary. It came into play Saturday in the waning moments with LSU safety Major Burns headed unabated toward the goal with what would become an easy pick-six and the final touches on a 49-39 victory for the Tigers over Missouri. Burns scored … and may have to run gassers at Monday’s practice.

Now, here’s a snippet on how bad LSU’s defense is: When Missouri, with all its time outs remaining, decided to gamble on a fourth-and-32 late in the game, it did not seem unreasonable — nor did it seem out of place for the LSU sideline and fans everywhere to be holding their collective breath until Missouri’s hook-and-ladder ploy passed with only minor damage, a rare ball over on downs.

The get-down, Downtown thing isn’t that unusual. It comes into play occasionally when the only possible way a team can get back in the game is to let the other team score (although Burns needed no help.)

So this wasn’t some gridiron parallel universe that he got sucked into.

Still … “He shouldn’t score,” LSU head coach Brian Kelly said after the Tigers survived their own late touchdown. “He knows he’s not supposed to score there. We actually work on that drill.”

Maybe LSU’s defense should work on that drill. But more on that in a minute.

Off hand, I’d say the pick-six was harmless, giving LSU a 10-point lead with 34 seconds remaining. Kelly may have gone all Saban-like, ticky-tack picky.

But Kelly said he told Burns, “You’re going to kill me if you keep doing things like this. I get it. But the game’s over if you take a knee (and LSU’s offense then takes a knee from there) and we don’t have to watch them go down the field again.”

Kelly finally admitted he might have run the interception on in, too.

But there’s the rub — watch them go down the field again.

Was 34 seconds cutting it too close to just nurse home a 10-point lead?

You never know with this defense.

But, if not to the naked eye, the defense did take some strides against a good Missouri offense, beyond getting a stop on fourth-and-32 with the game still in doubt.

Missouri followed up the 706 yards that Ole Miss shot out like a SuperSoaker against LSU last week with 527 yards of it own. Improvement, yes, but not exactly putting the clamps on.

The yards, for most part, still came way too easily for Missouri, often in chunks.

But give that defense some credit. Mixed in with its struggles, it did come up with some key, game-changing plays.

For one thing, it had to do something big to set up that fourth-and-32 white-knuckler conundrum. Something like Bradyn Swinson forcing a fumble that grew legs and took off backwards. Swinson is one of several young faces that deserve and are finally getting more time in what has been a underachieving defensive front.

It looked like the game was about to get away from LSU late in the second quarter, but the whole tone of the day seemed to change on Harold Perkins’ interception, which set up a touchdown.

And, of course, Burns did (all but) seal the deal with his own late pick-six, no matter how he botched the return.

LSU’s secondary, to borrow a coaching phrase that I have no idea what means, “is what it is.” But in this case it means there are no quick personnel fixes on the way. It can get better, you presume, but nothing that is is ever going to resemble DBU.

It can, however, get some protection if the defensive front finally plays up to its potential.

There were signs of that Saturday. The new faces can make a difference. Potential superstar, Maason Smith, a disappointment thus far, might have had his season breakthrough, clogging things up along with a sack, a key pass battered down and quarterback hurry.

Hey, baby steps. But you have to start somewhere.

This team will still go as far as gutsy quarterback Jayden Daniels and its offense takes it and there are more challenging defenses waiting down the schedule.

But, in the future, if you see one of those giant sideline, play-signal posers come up and it’s Petula “Downtown” Clark, you’ll know what the Tigers are doing — or supposed to be not doing.

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