LSU Football: How Ed Orgeron is viewing Mississippi State matchup as a must-win game

LSU football head coach Ed Orgeron probably isn’t thinking much about his job status right now.

Nor should he be.

The Coach O hot seat talk started picking up after the Tigers’ season-opening loss to UCLA. It intensified a bit after LSU looked less-than-stellar in a win against McNeese State.

A convincing win against Central Michigan this past weekend helped quiet the talk some. But it could easily pick up steam again if the Tigers lose to Mississippi State on Saturday in Starkville.

If there’s a must-win game early in the season for LSU, it’s this weekend against the Bulldogs.

And based on Orgeron’s comments on Monday, he feels the same way — even if his job status isn’t at the front of his mind.

A must-win game for LSU football?

Orgeron knows that a loss to Mississippi State would be unacceptable to LSU’s fan base — especially after losing to the Bulldogs in 2020.

Here’s what Orgeron said on Monday about the matchup with Mississippi State (via 247Sports):

"“It’s critical [to win the first SEC game]. We have no room for error. We’re going on the road for our first SEC game. I believe we have solved a lot of our problems, but we didn’t answer the first challenge against UCLA. We’ve gotten better, but we’re going to be challenged this Saturday.”"

Orgeron admitted that he’s been thinking about how to beat Mississippi State for the last year. Losing to Mike Leach in his first year in Starkville isn’t something that Coach O was thrilled about.

From 247Sports:

"“We’ve been looking at Mississippi State ever since we couldn’t stop them last year,” Orgeron said. “It was embarrassing. We have plans to do different things, but I can’t tell you [specifics]. We know how good they are. We weren’t expected to get burnt last year, but hopefully we fixed that. Hopefully Jay Ward is back this week, we’re going to need him.”"

The Tigers are going to be fired up to get some revenge this weekend. But I hope Orgeron can find a nice middle-ground for the team.

LSU doesn’t need a ton of pressure heading into this game. The sense of urgency is nice, but the Tigers also need to play loose. They need to have fun. They need to play with swagger.

That can be a tough balance to achieve. This game is definitely a must-win, but LSU has to walk into Davis Wade Stadium on Saturday confident and comfortable, not uptight and anxious.