LSU fans are feeling good right now. That much, I can confirm.

I’m basing that sweeping generalization on a few things. For starters, I was surrounded by them when I went to Baton Rouge to see LSU beat Auburn in a matchup of top 10 teams. I was surrounded by them again when I went to Atlanta to see the Tigers beat Georgia in the SEC Championship.

And to be clear, I’m not talking about sitting in a press box. I’m talking about sitting in the crowd with them and watching how they react to this historic offense. I’m talking about spending time at their tailgates and listening to LSU fans praise Joe Burrow, Joe Brady and Ed Orgeron in between bites of grillades and grits.

LSU fans are feeling good right now. Like, really good.

There were two examples of that this week, albeit in totally different context.

Let’s start with the not-so-good example.

Early Signing Day was a bit of a mixed bag for LSU. The surprise of the day came late on Wednesday morning when we found out that 5-star receiver Rakim Jarrett was not only dropping his LSU commitment but was signing with Maryland.

That’s right. Maryland. A 5-star kid who had been committed for 8 months decided that the LSU offense that took the college football world by storm was not the one he wanted to join. Instead, he chose to stay local and play for Mike Locksley in College Park.

To each their own. Needless to say, there were a few LSU fans who weren’t too happy about getting rejected, which is something they obviously haven’t experienced much of this year.

There were plenty of LSU fans who violated the golden rule. What’s the golden rule, you ask?

DON’T TWEET AT RECRUITS.

Here were some of the other responses to Jarrett’s tweet announcing that he signed at Maryland and not LSU:

And there were plenty of responses like this:

I actually thought I’d see more profane responses to the tweet. Unless those were deleted immediately after Jarrett’s tweet went out, I didn’t see much of that.

And look. I get it. Fans feel a sense of connection to recruits, not just players. Every fan base has a group of diehards who tweet at recruits after surprise announcements. Nobody likes to feel betrayed.

For LSU fans, this has to feel like winning the lottery and then being told that you’re not allowed to buy a Tesla. Or maybe it’s like being voted homecoming king and then getting turned down when you ask out that girl you sit behind in English Lit class. Like, you’re still on Cloud 9, but being told “no” is unfamiliar.

Now to be fair, that wasn’t everyone. While I’m not a believer in tweeting at 18-year old kids to share my feelings about where they choose to spend the next 3-4 years — they all say that now when they make their announcements — I will say that the responses like this remind me that not everyone is out to shame a high school senior who they’ve never met:

OK, that restores my faith in humanity a bit.

You know what else did? This was the feel-good story of the week, and it came via a pair of LSU fans.

In case you missed it, LSU fan Matt Porter put $50 on Burrow to win the Heisman … in June … when his odds were 200-to-1. Do some quick math and yep, that’s a $10,000 payout.

Porter, as many LSU fans probably did Saturday night, had a party for the Heisman. Once it became official, Porter did something big with his winnings.

He dropped $3,200 into the GoFundMe account for LSU super fan Colton Moore, who has spina bifida. The family of the Alabama native made a goal of raising $15,000 to afford a handicap accessible van. Porter’s donation put them $1 dollar above their goal.

And in case that wasn’t enough, Porter gave the quote of all quotes in this fantastic story by Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger:

If that doesn’t give LSU fans the feels during the holiday season, I don’t know what does.

I might have started this #ItMightMeanTooMuch by criticizing certain LSU fans, but if there’s one constant I’ve seen throughout 2019, it’s the sense of awareness in Baton Rouge (that’s not just a reference to Burrow’s pocket presence). LSU fans realize that seasons like this don’t happen that much. And they’re soaking it all in. From the overwhelming support for Burrow and Orgeron to the absurd prices fans are shelling out for the Peach Bowl, there’s no question about how much LSU fans are enjoying this.

Speaking of those prices, according to TickPick, the average purchase price for the Peach Bowl was $323.95. That’s a fraction of the average ticket price for the College Football Playoff National Championship in New Orleans, which was at $1,571.49.

You can bet those would take a significant dip if LSU were to lose to Oklahoma in the Peach Bowl. That, of course, is the last thing on the minds of LSU fans.

They’re feeling themselves right now, as they should be.