When Les Miles was dismissed as LSU’s head coach last year, it was clear that his successor would be expected to eventually end LSU’s losing streak against Alabama. It wasn’t surprising on Monday to hear first-year coach Ed Orgeron asked if there’s a gap between the Tigers and the Crimson Tide.

Orgeron believes last year’s game shows there isn’t much of a gap between the SEC West rivals.

“Obviously they’ve done a great job. Coach [Nick] Saban has done great job,” Orgeron said. “He did a great job last year at LSU. Last year, it was a very tight game. It was 0-0 going into the fourth quarter. Their quarterback made a few plays and we didn’t. I don’t know if it’s that big of a gap. We need to play our football.”

Orgeron pointed to recruiting as a way to bridge that gap.

“The way to beat Alabama is to recruit on their level,” Orgeron said. “They’re recruiting at a very high level now. They do a great job of evaluation. Coach coaches very well and gets his team ready to play. Again, last year, we weren’t that far off.”

While Alabama has a seven-year streak of signing the No. 1 ranked class, few would point to recruiting as a problem at LSU during the Miles years. The Tigers regularly signed top-10 talent, but many felt Miles and his staff did not get enough out of that talent. For Orgeron, it might be staff changes such as the hire of Matt Candada that finally evens things out on the field.