LSU Football: Why loss to Mississippi State could be a good thing for Tigers

LSU football’s nation-leading win streak ended this past weekend.

Losses are never fun, but LSU football‘s loss to Mississippi State in week one could actually be a good thing for the Tigers.

Yes, you read that right.

Look, the loss is what it is at this point, right? There’s no going back in time and undoing it. It will forever be an L in the record books.

So the Tigers might as well look for the silver lining.

And fortunately for LSU, there is one.

LSU football’s loss to Mississippi State wasn’t a bad thing

Despite the massive loss of talent that LSU suffered this offseason, the Tigers are still one of the most talented teams in the SEC.

That’s a testament to the great job that Ed Orgeron and his staff have done on the recruiting trail.

But while there is a ton of talent on the roster, there isn’t much chemistry right now. This is essentially a brand new team and they’ve only played one game together. They also haven’t had a normal offseason to gel together.

That’s why the loss to Mississippi State wasn’t exactly shocking. It was probably unwise to expect a team that has never played together to cruise in their first game together.

I’m sure there was also a bit of championship hangover present, too.

Coach O would never admit it, but it has to be tough to win the national championship (his first as a head coach) and then have the same fire and motivation toward doing it again in 2020 — especially with all the roster turnover.

The loss to Mississippi State is almost like a palate cleanser — it allows for a reset. And it will provide that fire that was missing in week one.

“It put some fire in me — I guaran-damn-tee you that. And we’re gonna have a fire,” said Orgeron on Monday (via Rivals). “And this is a big game for us (Saturday against Vanderbilt), and we’ll take it one at a time. And we’re gonna play with some fire, and we’re gonna play with some energy.”

“That’s up to me to get it done. I may have to take my mask off a little bit more to scream. I felt like I was a little muzzled in my mask there.”

It’s not easy to be “up” all the time. Orgeron probably has the best energy in college football, but even he’s not infallible.

But after the loss to the Bulldogs this week, I don’t think we’ll see Coach O or his team lacking in energy the rest of the season.

And that’s why I think we’ll see a team that performs a lot better this season than we would’ve seen had the Tigers squeaked out a win against Mississippi State.