The word on the street is that South Alabama is going to LSU Saturday and, frankly, I expect a 1990’s-era NCAA baseball regional to break out any minute now.

That’s what I mostly remember about South Alabama.

The Jaguars were always a good baseball program. But being in Mobile, Alabama, it made it too convenient for the tournament selection committee to seemingly always ship them to Baton Rouge for the postseason.

The old Alex Box Stadium wasn’t particularly kind of aspiring visitors of all skill levels.

That proximity probably cost the Jaguars a trip or two to the College World Series in Omaha, which was a shame for head coach Steve Kittrell, one of the nicest coaches you’d ever meet.

Not that that has anything to do with Saturday’s football game in Tiger Stadium.

But football is another matter, a fairly recent development with a brief history.

South Alabama didn’t venture into varsity football until 2009, at first playing in decrepit old Ladd-Peebles Stadium (most famous for hosting the Senior Bowl) before getting its on-campus digs in 2019.

The Jags are gradually starting to make a name for themselves in football.

They do have one win in seven tries against an SEC team, beating Mississippi State 21-20 in 2016.

But the biggest win in the brief history was probably last year, a 33-7 shocker over Oklahoma State which stands as the only other victory over a Power Five opponent.

The Jaguars were supposed to play at LSU in 2020, but that trip got derailed by the COVID pandemic when the Southeastern Conference went to a conference-only schedule.

Hence, USA’s first LSU football trip.

But at least one Jaguar won’t need directions to Tiger Stadium.

First-year USA head coach Major Applewhite is a 46-year-old Baton Rouge native who grew up sort of a semi-LSU fan, as a kid often going to Tiger Stadium’s south end zone, where he cheered for the Tigers — as long as “they weren’t playing Alabama.”

After playing quarterback and later coaching at Texas, he had two coaching stints with Nick Saban at his dream destination at Bama.

Still, although he used to occasionally sneak onto the Tiger Stadium turf after games as a youngster, Saturday will be his first coaching experience there.

“It’s another game, another opportunity for our players to get out there and fight against a quality opponent,” Applewhite said.

The Jaguars are 2-2, but it’s hard to get a good read on them, a Sun Belt Conference team that opened the season with losses to North Texas and Ohio.

You might say USA turned its season around big-time in the third game. But the Jaguars’ victory over another Louisiana school, Northwestern State, probably should not be admitted as evidence.

The Demons, putting the pieces back together after shutting down their program in midseason a year ago, had, shall we say, a bit of a struggle in Mobile on Sept. 12.

The Jaguars led 52-10 at the half, and 80-10 heading into the fourth quarter, which, by mutual (and merciful) agreement, was shortened to 6 minutes with a running clock. So it ended up 87-10.

Trivia buffs might note that LSU, which has been playing football a mere 116 years longer than South Alabama, has only scored 87 points twice, neither particularly recent — 89-0 in 1908 (Baylor) and 93-0 in 1936 (Louisiana-Lafayette, né Southwestern Louisiana Institute).

Far more impressive for South Alabama was last week when the Jaguars waltzed into one of the Sun Belt’s toughest environments, Appalachian State, and jumped all over the Mountaineers 48-24, with 474 yards of total offense.

“Really tore them apart,” LSU head coach Brian Kelly said. “Rushed for 320 yards against a very proud program.”

Maybe that will get LSU’s attention.

Of course, if this week is anything more than a final tune-up in LSU’s last nonconference game, the Tigers are in trouble when SEC play starts.

So it’s not a must-win for the Tigers, it’s a better win.

Come to think of it, when Saban was at LSU, his most embarrassing loss as a Tiger was against Alabama-Birmingham. Ed Orgeron had to answer for losing to Troy. Both, you’ll notice, are group of five schools in Alabama.

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