In Matt Canada’s introductory press conference at LSU, he was asked a softball question.

“I wonder what your experience has been coaching against any SEC teams and, you know, what do you think of that level of competition that SEC defenses will present?”

The new LSU offensive coordinator didn’t come with some answer about “SEC speed” or how he felt his experience in the ACC and Big Ten would prepare him for the pressure cooker that is the SEC. Instead, he answered the question lightheartedly.

“Well, I’m 1-0 at Alabama. Northern Illinois, we beat Alabama in 2003, so, I guess I’ll go with that. Huh?”

Yes, once upon a time, Canada led a Northern Illinois offense that put up 19 points in a victory at Bryant-Denny Stadium. If that ever happened in the Nick Saban era, the entire state of Alabama might just spontaneously combust.

But Canada and every reporter at his LSU introductory press conference — a rarity for a coordinator — knew that he wasn’t hired by LSU because of some game against Alabama 13 years ago. The Tigers made him one of the highest-paid assistants in the country because of the work he did in the 13 years since that Northern Illinois upset.

The main reason Canada was brought on board, of course, was to lead another offense to victory in Tuscaloosa.

Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

The 19 points that Canada’s NIU offense put up against Alabama back in 2003 might not seem like much, but that was more than any single-game total LSU has put up during its six-game losing streak against the Tide. On Saturday, Canada will be tasked with turning around what has been an inefficient, unproductive offense against Saban’s bunch.

In those last six meetings, LSU averaged 10.5 points and totaled just four touchdown passes. It didn’t matter that LSU had Leonard Fournette, Odell Beckham Jr., Jeremy Hill, Jarvis Landry and others. Under Les Miles, the Tigers always struggled to get their loaded group of skill players going against the Tide. That was a major reason why LSU cleaned house and lured Canada to Baton Rouge.

In the one year that Canada spent at Pitt in 2016, his offense faced Clemson, which was basically the Alabama of the ACC. Against a defense loaded with NFL talent, Canada had the daunting task of going into Clemson and putting up points.

What did Canada do that day? He. Lit. Them. Up.

Pitt’s balanced attack racked up 464 yards of offense en route to a 43-point outburst. Deshaun Watson had to throw the ball 70 times just to keep pace with Canada’s offense. Nathan Peterman, the guy who Canada helped turn into an NFL draft pick, threw for five touchdowns to lead Pitt to the upset of the year in college football.

Oh, and he engineered a drive in the final minute to set up this game-winning kick (Pat Narduzzi isn’t kissing his kicker unless Canada’s offense puts the Panthers in that position):

Watch that video and muffled under the frantic cheers from visiting Pitt fans, you can hear “CA-CHING! CA-CHING!”

Canada made himself some money that day. LSU and others who targeted Canada probably didn’t have to look very far to find that one on his résumé.

The question is if Canada can pull off a similar stunner on Saturday. Had that question been asked a month ago, it would’ve been laughed out of the room. It still might not be taken very seriously.

But as Saban said on Monday, the worst thing to happen to the rest of the SEC was LSU losing to Troy. Since that game, the Tigers have averaged 28 points in a three-game winning streak against Florida, Auburn and Ole Miss. As expected, Saban isn’t taking Canada’s unit lightly.

“This is a really challenging offense to prepare for, and they do a really good job of executing it,” Saban said on the SEC Coaches Teleconference. “We have a lot of respect for their offensive team.”

Saban said what many have been seeing all year from Canada. The Tigers run different motions and offensive sets than a run-of-the-mill SEC team, especially the LSU teams of old. Canada was hired to break away from the conventional thinking that the Tigers could somehow win the battle at the line of scrimmage and run right at the Tide.

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Though he didn’t want to compare 2017 LSU to any of those past offenses, Saban admitted that Canada’s scheme is, at the very least, atypical.

“This is a new offense. It’s very good, a lot of good concepts that they use and they do with multiple personnel groups,” Saban said. “It’s a little different than what you see week in, week out; and I think that in it of itself is a challenge for our players.”

Saban has had two weeks to prepare for the Russell Gage jet sweeps and the D.J. Chark wheel routes from the slot. Alabama is well aware that LSU isn’t going to be the Derrius Guice show. The LSU tailback has yet to even play a game at 100 percent.

Besides, Canada wasn’t brought to LSU to dial up the same failed game plans of years past. His creativity, his style, his offense was what the Tigers hoped would be the missing piece to end their Alabama woes. Saturday’s challenge will be even greater than the one Canada faced 14 years ago with Northern Illinois. That Alabama team didn’t have Saban in its corner.

LSU fans wouldn’t mind if Canada dialed up the same offensive magic that fueled Pitt’s upset o fClemson last year. This matchup, which once again has Canada’s team as a heavy road underdog, was why the Tigers showed him the money.

How can Canada make good on that investment?

Get to 2-0.