LSU can’t win the SEC West.

It’s not going to the College Football Playoffs.

But there’s still much that the No. 9 Tigers can accomplish even in the wake of the 29-0 beatdown they suffered at the hands of No. 1 Alabama on Saturday night in Tiger Stadium.

They can get to double-digit regular-season wins. They can play in a New Year’s Six bowl game. And they can demonstrate that the program is moving on an upward trajectory.

Regardless of what happens the rest of the way, LSU isn’t closing the gap on Alabama. That was evident Saturday night.

But the gap between the Crimson Tide and the Tigers is big enough that the Tigers can continue building even as the Tide continues to keep the rest of college football at arm’s length.

The rest of the schedule is relatively tame. LSU visits Arkansas on Saturday, then hosts Rice in its final nonconference game before visiting Texas A&M in the regular-season finale.

Step one is not to let Alabama beat them twice. The Tigers were beat up physically and mentally in the loss to the Crimson Tide, and returning to peak form on both counts will be a challenge this week.

Fortunately for LSU, it doesn’t have to be at its best to beat Arkansas, but it can be beaten if it has a significant hangover from Bama.

Regardless of what happens against Arkansas, LSU shouldn’t have any trouble handling Rice in the home finale.

Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

But the game at Texas A&M is the biggest hurdle remaining. The Aggies have been erratic in Jimbo Fisher’s first season as head coach, so there’s no telling what you’ll get from them.

It will be an opportunity to finish the regular season on a high note and establish some momentum heading into whatever bowl LSU goes to.

In any event, the Tigers should be looking at a 10-2 or, at worst, 9-3 finish to a season that many prognosticators expected to feature anywhere from four to six losses.

That’s significant, though not ideal.

But the aftermath of the loss to Alabama and the remainder of the season need to be kept in perspective.

Neither this LSU season nor the status of the program under coach Ed Orgeron should be evaluated based on how they compare to Alabama.

The Tide is in a different league from everyone else right now, except for Clemson. Catching them is a worthwhile goal, but also a goal that is not immediately attainable.

LSU needs to gauge this season and the status of the program against itself.

For this season, so far, so good.

If this team can put the Alabama game behind it as easily as it did, say, the victory against Southeastern Louisiana and play up to its capabilities next week, that will be a good sign.

If it can win the last three and get to 10 victories, that will be an even better sign.

That would produce a really good bowl destination, perhaps even a chance to stay in its back yard and play a Big 12 representative in the Allstate Sugar Bowl.

Before this season began, no one had the Tigers winning the SEC West. No one had them going to the CFP.

Few people had them approaching 10 victories or reaching a New Year’s Six bowl.

Forget the wipeout against Alabama.

There’s plenty left for this team to accomplish.

As for catching up to Alabama and reaching the CFP, the Tigers can demonstrate that they’re moving in that direction by how they perform the rest of the way.