What’s fun about watching LSU and Alabama football is appreciating the talent on the defensive side of the ball.

It’s seeing Jalen Hurts finding very little running room for three quarters because you aren’t running away from athletes like Arden Key, Duke Riley and Tre’Davious White so easily.

It’s seeing the same Leonard Fournette that you last saw running wild for 284 yards against Ole Miss get completely shut down by Alabama’s ferocious, NFL-like front seven for 35 yards on 17 carries. It’s watching fast, talented LSU wide receivers like D.J. Chark and Travin Dural get taken down in the open field when matched 1-on-1 with Crimson Tide defensive backs in space.

It’s impressive defensive football for sure, and there isn’t much to separate the two defenses but one thing: The offenses they have to defend.

Alabama’s is flat better on offense, and it showed it in Saturday’s 10-0 win over the Tigers. And that’s what creates this widening gap between the two programs, and that’s exactly what LSU needs to address when looking for its next football coach.

Because make no mistake, the Tigers’ defense can play with anybody, including mighty Alabama. LSU has a six-game losing streak in the rivalry because it lacks the same level of talent on offense, pure and simple.

It needs an upgrade, and that can only come from a coach who can attract better players on offense, not just a couple of bellcows to build around (like Fournette).

With LSU not being able to move the ball with Fournette (or Derrius Guice, who was little-used), it was out of weapons potent enough to be a threat to the Crimson Tide and, thus, the Tigers finished with just 125 total yards. Danny Etling could not pass the ball down the field. His line could neither run block for Fournette nor protect Etling, who was hit repeatedly.

It’s another verse from the same song for the Tigers, but this time, the fans don’t have old Les Miles to kick around and blame for it.

But the problem isn’t all about coaching. It’s also about players, which is also about coaching.

Let me explain.

When LSU lost to the Tide 21-0 in the 2011 BCS National Championship Game, the perception that went from the odd LSU fan complaint to conventional wisdom was that Miles and LSU could not develop offenses, and if you wanted to play in a better offense and win championships, Alabama might be a better option.

So five years later, you still see talent all over the field on defense for LSU, but on offense you start noticing a few spots where the players weren’t as highly regarded coming out of high school. A couple of three-star receivers in the starting lineup. An unheralded junior college tight end in the starting lineup.

A quarterback who transferred in after losing the starting job at a second-division Big Ten program.

What happened was that the perception that Miles didn’t develop exciting offenses led to maybe a degrading of the recruiting base on that side of the ball. Sure, LSU is able to make a splash and land a Fournette now and then. But where the defense is pretty much able to load up with blue-chip talents across the board, the offense has plenty of spots where unheralded guys can find a niche.

But there’s no reason why the LSU offense can’t have the same embarrassment of riches in terms of player talent that it enjoys on defense.

The only way to do that is to hire an offensive guy offensive players are going to line up to play for.

Does that mean you don’t consider Ed Orgeron, a defensive guy, as the next head coach?

Not at all. If Orgeron gets the Tigers back on track and they finish an impressive 8-3, maybe he should be the guy. But if that happens, he might need to shuffle the staff and make room for an up-and-coming new offensive coordinator recruits will be excited to play for.

Sort of like a Lane Kiffin at Alabama.

There’s nothing wrong with Steve Ensminger, the current LSU offensive coordinator. I think he’d do a fine job calling plays and putting together cohesive offenses. But I also think his most notable work — as offensive coordinator at Texas A&M and Clemson in the 1990s — is well before the memories of recruits.

So if Orgeron gets the job, he’ll need to find a “name” guy to run the offense who can make an elite offensive player want to come to LSU.

And if Orgeron doesn’t get the job, that should be the guy LSU hires as head coach. Whether it’s Tom Herman, Jimbo Fisher or somebody else, the program needs to be able to create the impression with recruits that it can make things happen on offense.

On a national stage Saturday night, LSU once again could not produce, sort of like last year’s 30-16 loss to Alabama or that BCS beatdown at the end of the 2011 season. If you were a 5-star wide receiver not from Louisiana, would you want to be part of that offense? And if Alabama is that invincible on defense, how did Ole Miss score 43 on them?

That’s the perception LSU is facing right now, and it’s the single biggest challenge facing the program.

Unless it addresses it with the right coaching hire, LSU will continue to be a place that produces great defenses. But on offense?

Let’s just say the gap between Tuscaloosa and Baton Rouge gets wider every year.