LSU hasn’t been in this position in a long time, and coach Ed Orgeron had a message for his team following the upset loss to Mississippi State on Saturday in its opening game at Tiger Stadium and defense of the national championship.

LSU had plenty of new faces, and forced several turnovers on defense, but ultimately the Tigers gave up an SEC record in passing yards to Mississippi State.

“I told them, ‘Put it on me,'” Orgeron said. “When they win, I give them the credit. When they don’t, I got to take the blame. I have to coach better. I asked everyone to look at themselves in the mirror. See what we’re doing. Let’s get better. Let’s stick together as a football team. We still have a lot of football left.”

That starts this week when the Tigers take on Vanderbilt for the second straight year, a non-traditional matchup. The Commodores are coming off of a narrow loss against Texas A&M.

“I still believe we have a good football team,” Orgeron said. “We have a lot of young guys that played for the first time. They got their taste of SEC play. Any time you play in the SEC, there’s going to be great athletes across the ball. You have to win your one-on-ones. We didn’t do that tonight.”

H/T Geaux 247.