LSU coach Ed Orgeron put his team through four preseason scrimmages that he likes to call “preseason games.”

But the Tigers’ pre-SEC games against BYU and Chattanooga could just as easily be referred to as preseason games.

Even though, unlike NFL preseason games, all college games count in the won-loss record, they are very similar in their value as opportunities to experiment, evaluate personnel and sharpen things for the start of conference play — especially when a team is able to secure victory relatively early as No. 12 LSU was in victories against the Cougars (27-0) and the Mocs (45-10).

But on Saturday the Tigers begin SEC play against Mississippi State in Starkville and that means a bigger, faster, deeper opponent. And cowbells.

Orgeron said he expects “a different vibe” around his team this week because LSU is facing “a tough, physical SEC opponent on the road.”

There’s a lot for LSU to learn in this game, stuff it might think it knows but which must be validated against an SEC opponent, especially one that had similar success in its preseason, uh pre-conference, schedule. Mississippi State blasted Charleston Southern (49-0) and Louisiana Tech (57-21).

This will be the first time LSU has played in a hostile environment this season. The opener was moved from Houston to New Orleans because of Hurricane Harvey and the Mercedes-Benz Superdome featured an overwhelmingly pro-LSU crowd. Last week’s game was in Tiger Stadium.

“I kind of like playing on the road because (at practice) we get a John Deere tractor and we get right behind the offense and we bring some big speakers out and we kind of play their fight songs and crowd noise and cowbells and all that stuff,” Orgeron said.

“It’s going to fire up our guys. But we have to get the snap count down, and we need to get offense going, because that’s where it’s going to be the loudest.”

The Tigers already have committed 21 penalties without the distraction of a road crowd or cowbells.

LSU has committed an average of 10.5 penalties a game, 122nd of 129 FBS teams.

“We’ll continue to work on the penalties,” Orgeron said. “We had 10 in the first half (against Chattanooga). But we’re pleased we addressed it (at halftime), and we only had one in the second half. We’re going to work very hard on them this week. They’re unacceptable.”

Coordinator Matt Canada’s offense, which has been less predictable and more efficient than recent Tigers offenses, will line up against a more physical and athletic defense than it has seen the first two weeks.

So how will quarterback Danny Etling hold up when he presumably has a less dominant run game, more pressure and perhaps even a deficit more significant than the only one the Tigers have faced (3-0 against Chattanooga after one possession)?

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Also, can LSU find someone who can make field goals after Jack Gonsoulin and Connor Culp have struggled?

“Obviously we need to fix our field goal unit and we’re going to work on it very hard this week and try some different things,” Orgeron said. “It won’t be different guys because those are the guys we have. We’ll try different techniques and work very hard with them.”

Amid all these question marks comes a positive change. For the first time this season the Tigers will have outside linebacker Arden Key available and he will play in Saturday’s game.

Key set a school record with 12 sacks last season, then had offseason shoulder surgery. He was cleared for contact this week, but his conditioning isn’t up to par yet.

“We’ll play him as much as we can,” Orgeron said.