John Battle.

There’s your answer.

When you ask yourself the question “What has changed at LSU since the Tigers’ game at Florida scheduled for Oct. 8 was postponed by Hurricane Matthew and moved to this week in Baton Rouge?” That’s your answer.

RELATED: What has changed for Florida since Hurricane Matthew? A lot

John Battle. And not much else.

Battle is the Tigers’ starting free safety. At the time of Matthew, that job belonged to Rickey Jefferson, who has since suffered a broken leg that ended his season.

Other things have evolved some, but mostly, the Ed Orgeron Tigers are still the same team they were that week when they were coming off a 42-7 blowout of Missouri.

The only other major change is that LSU no longer has championship aspirations. The 10-0 loss to Alabama last week ended their SEC West title hopes. But the Tigers are otherwise still the confident, revitalized team they were in what was back then Week 2 of the Orgeron era.

How do the current Tigers compare to where they were a month-and-a-half ago? Let’s look:

Quarterback: Is Danny Etling any different now than he was then?

He was coming off a pretty good game against Missouri (19-for-30, 216 yards) and he’s coming off a decent outing (10-for-16, 157 yards) against Arkansas this week.

He’s efficient when LSU’s winning and awful (11-for-24 for 92 yards and a pick against Alabama) when LSU’s losing. But the job is safely his. In early October, we had gone three games without a relevant sighting of former starter Brandon Harris. We still haven’t seen him take a meaningful snap since.

Running back: Leonard Fournette was going to miss the first Florida game with an ankle injury he aggravated against Auburn.

Well, it’s six weeks later and he just aggravated it again in last week’s win at Arkansas.

Yeah, not much has changed except that we don’t know if he’s going to play this week.

Either way, LSU should be fine. Derrius Guice was coming off a 163-yard rushing day against Missouri, and this week he’s coming off a 252-yard outburst against Arkansas. The Tigers’ stable of backs is still second to none.

Receivers/tight ends: They weren’t doing anything earth shattering in early October and the same is still true. The Tigers have four receivers with at least 15 catches and nine others who have caught passes.

It was a balanced group going into the first Florida game and it still is.

Offensive line: Here’s something different. LSU has gone three straight games with the same starting five up front with left tackle K.J. Malone, left guard Will Clapp, center Ethan Pocic, right guard Josh Boutte and right tackle Maea Teuhema.

Back in the first Florida game, injuries were forcing constant changes in the offensive line lineup.

The Tigers still get banged up — one can expect to see reserve guard Garrett Brumfield in for the oft-injured Clapp at some point of most games — but there seems to be a little more continuity than back in October.

Defensive line: The biggest change has been that nose guard Travonte Valentine, who at the time was splitting snaps with starter Greg Gilmore, has lost his playing time and instead the Tigers generally go with true freshman Ed Alexander behind Gilmore.

Besides that, ends Lewis Neal and Davon Godchaux have remained highly effective mainstays.

Linebackers: The starting four — inside linebackers Kendell Beckwith and Duke Riley and outside backers Arden Key and Tashawn Bower — have stayed the same.

If anything’s different, it’s that Beckwith and Riley have evolved into one of the best inside linebacker tandems in the SEC. Beckwith’s reputation was solid coming into the season, but Riley has gotten better and better next to him.

On the outside, Key has not been able to keep up his torrid sack rate of the early season,  but with nine sacks, he remains one of the SEC’s premier pass rushers.

Secondary: The loss of Jefferson was a blow, but Battle has done well in his place and a pleasant development has been the rise in production for nickel back Dwayne Thomas, who has had a couple of weeks of solid football — 14 tackles, three for loss and an interception — leading up to this meeting.

Special teams: Again, not much different, unless one considers the continued improvement of punter Josh Growden, who has gone from being a liability in the season’s first few weeks to being an absolute weapon — booming punts and pinning opponents inside the 20 when the situation calls for it.

Outlook: It’s similarly optimistic. The Tigers were 3-2 and coming off the feel good of whipping Missouri in Orgeron’s debut when the first meeting was postponed.

Now the Tigers are 6-3 and coming off a feel good 38-10 road win over Arkansas. LSU sees a clear path to a possible Sugar Bowl berth if it keeps winning.

Coaching: The biggest change in LSU may be the perception of Orgeron as a coach. The Florida game was to be his second game as interim head coach after he replaced the fired Les Miles following a 2-2 start. Few outside of Baton Rouge saw Orgeron as a viable candidate to keep the job long-term.

Now, after he has compiled a 4-1 record, he’s looking more and more like a guy who can get the full-time job. In fact, one could argue that, at this point, it’s his to lose. LSU is the favorite against Florida and will likely be again next week at Texas A&M.

If LSU sweeps those two, the job should be his.