All’s well that ends well.

And LSU is just getting started.

There has been much gnashing of teeth and wringing of hands among the Tigers’ faithful for the past few weeks, ever since the College Football Playoff selection committee moved Ohio State to the No. 1 position and dropped LSU to No. 2.

But those in-season rankings are merely snapshots that last a mere 7 days. The big picture doesn’t come into focus until the final CFP rankings, which were revealed Sunday.

And all’s well that ends well.

This time the committee moved up the Tigers to No. 1 and dropped the Buckeyes to No. 2.

And now it’s set.

LSU is in the CFP for the first time.

The Tigers were probably going to be there after completing a 12-0 regular season.

They were definitely going to be there after routing Georgia 37-10 on Saturday for the SEC Championship.

And now they will face No. 4 and Big 12 champion Oklahoma on Dec. 28 in Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the site of their SEC triumph.

Though this is LSU’s first time in the 6-year-old CFP, it does have recent experience playing for national championships and doing so against Oklahoma,

This is the 4th time 2003 that the Tigers have competed for a national championship. They beat Oklahoma in 2003 and Ohio State in 2007 before losing to Alabama in 2011.

All of those title games were played in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, where this year’s championship game will be played Jan. 13.

The Tigers found out Sunday that they will avoid undefeated defending national champion Clemson in the semifinals.

That’s a good deal.

Instead they get the Sooners, who are essentially LSU light. Jalen Hurts and the Oklahoma offense can score a lot. The Sooners’ defense can give up a lot of points.

But the Tigers can score more.

And recently they’re not allowing quite so many points.

The Tigers just faced the best defense they’ve faced all season and they scored 37 points against a unit that hadn’t allowed more than 20 and that came after 2 overtimes.

LSU does shootouts well. Ask Texas. Ask Alabama.

And it’s getting harder for opponents to keep up in a shootout because the Tigers are playing much better defense. Georgia scored 10 points. A week before that Texas A&M scored 7.

Oklahoma has a lot better offense than those 2 teams, but is it good enough to keep up with Joe Burrow and company?

The LSU offense doesn’t leave opposing offenses with much of a margin for error. If they have a 1 or 2 scoreless possessions per half, Burrow and the Tigers are likely to pull away.

And the LSU defense is causing scoreless possessions with much greater frequency.

The first time the Tigers and the Sooners played for the national championship, LSU prevailed 21-14 and the defense came up with 1 of those touchdowns.

This game won’t be like that one.

The opponent wasn’t the only part of LSU’s return to the top spot that represented good news for the Tigers.

They will avoid a longer trip to Glendale, Ariz.

And make another relatively short trip to Atlanta.

LSU fans didn’t show up for the SEC Championship Game in huge numbers, knowing there was a good chance they would be going right back there or making the longer trip west for the the other CFP semifinal.

So some saved their money for the bigger prize.

And now it’s a relatively short, easy and inexpensive trip to see them take on the Sooners.

And they know the championship game is in their backyard, so there’s only the one real road trip to deal with.

LSU plays Oklahoma instead of Clemson.

It plays in Atlanta instead of Arizona.

And it gets the No. 1 designation as recognition for a dominant regular season.

All’s well that ends well.