Even as LSU faithful were wincing and covering collective eyes at another wide-open opposing wide receiver frolicking at his leisure while giggling at the Tigers, somehow the word leaked out.

The Tigers, at 4-2, are in the very same spot they were in last year at this midway point of the season. Actually they’re in better shape in the conference race at 3-1, compared to 2-1 last year at this stage in the Southeastern Conference.

The kicker, which was never properly explained or fully understood, is that last year LSU, despite a lot of pratfalls along the way, went on a wild ride that ended up in the SEC Championship game. Trust me. You can look it up.

Mmmmm.

So you’re saying there’s a chance …

Makes no sense, granted.

And there are key differences.

Wouldn’t get any hopes up.

It’s not the way you’d draw it up, but …

Nah, forget about it.

Sure, the Tigers have one more road game remaining with the other five a home. It’s at Alabama, but the Tigers had to beat the Tide during last year’s comeback too and that much, at least, didn’t look like a fluke.

But that’s about where the similarities end.

“It’s kind of the opposite, right,” LSU head coach Brian Kelly said Monday. “(Last year) we were working diligently on the offense, making sure the offense was growing and we were playing pretty good defense.

“Now the shoe is on the other foot here, in terms of our offense is playing at a very high level, (but) we’ve got to get our defense to be much more in sync with what we’re doing.”

That’s putting in mildly. At the risk of bogging the conversation down with statistics, you have to wonder if any team has (or has ever had) such a discrepancy between its pop-gun offense and its helpless defense.

But LSU leads the SEC in passing (337.7 ypg), rushing (337.7 ypg) and, logically, total offense (548.3 ypg). Quite a trifecta, and you could add scoring offense (44.9 ppg) to the mix. The total offense is third in the nation.

Now, about that defense. The Tigers are last in the SEC in total defense (445.7 ypg) even though, believe it or not, South Carolina gives up more passing yards. But the best LSU ranks nationally on defense is tied for 94th in stopping the run (163 ypg). Pass defense is 119th (282.7) and total defense is 121st (445.7). It could be worse, but there’s only 130 teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision.

Can the defense improve like the offense did last year as quarterback Jayden Daniels started to figure things out for his decision making to complement his athleticism?

“I think we took a step in that direction,” Kelly said after giving up 527 yards against Missouri. “I’m not going to say it was leap in any fashion, but we took a step in that direction.”

There were, if not shiny bright shots, a few moments of hope.

The most encouragement I could give is that LSU the last two weeks may have played the best two offenses it’s going to see for a while.

There’s two ways this could play out, with guidelines for fans and team alike.

If you’re a fan, look at it like having two sons — one the well-meaning but ne’er-do-well who can stumble onto trouble around every corner, usually with a mud hole involved; the other a straight-arrow destined to be giving a valedictory speech some day.

You love and encourage both, but you have to judge them differently.

The players can go one of two ways also. If the Tigers’ palatial locker room is suddenly filled with finger-pointing from a frustrated offense that is doing everything humanly possible, then they’re in trouble. No evidence that’s happened yet.

Better for the offense to play big brother to the defense, which can remind these mean opposing offenses that help is on the way. That’d be the big-bad offense tousling the defense’s hair and assuring little brother everything is going to be OK.

The Missouri game, if nothing else, proved the Tigers can win, even with no defense, if they just get to 49 points. It’s not guaranteed — see, Ole Miss 55, LSU 49 — but it’s doable and this offense looks capable of it every week.

—

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