It’s Tell the Truth Monday, Alabama Week edition.

The truth is, even though an LSU victory over Alabama on Saturday night in Tiger Stadium would put the Tigers in control of the race for the SEC West title, it won’t pull the program in Baton Rouge even with the program in Tuscaloosa.

A victory would be a major step in narrowing the gap, but this is a multi-year project that 1st-year Tigers head coach Brian Kelly has on his hands.

LSU lost a lot of ground to Alabama in 3 years.

It won’t make it all up in 1, but this week is still a very important week both in the short term and the longer term.

It was November of 2019 when the No. 1-ranked Tigers went into Bryant-Denny Stadium and defeated the No. 2-ranked Crimson Tide, 46-41.

When the game ended, several LSU players ran toward the end-zone seats where several of the highest-rated high school football players in the country were seated.

The Tigers were sending a message to the recruits — many of whom were considering both the Tigers and the Tide == that the game’s outcome was a sign that LSU was now the place to be.

Their case was strengthened, as they won the remainder of their games and the national championship.

But it was all downhill for the Tigers after that.

LSU’s stay atop the college football world and the SEC West vanished as quickly as it appeared.

A 5-5 season in 2020 was followed by a 6-7 season and a coaching change.

Kelly inherited from Ed Orgeron a program that had fallen well behind the Tide.

But LSU has an opportunity to start closing the gap with Bama.

As significant as a victory on Saturday would be, the lightning-in-a-bottle championship season of 2019 demonstrated that gaining equal footing with a program such as the Tide’s takes a while.

Kelly doesn’t even have a full complement of scholarship players. He salvaged the No. 12 recruiting class shortly upon his arrival, but that left the Tigers behind 3 SEC rivals — No. 1 Texas A&M, No. 2 Alabama and No. 3 Georgia.

So far, his 2023 grade sheet is better as the Tigers rank 7th, behind just No. 1 Alabama and No. 2 Georgia among SEC programs.

Kelly is making progress in rebuilding the program, as evidenced by the Tigers’ No. 15 ranking in Sunday’s new AP poll, 6-2 overall record, 4-1 SEC mark and entering November with control of their fate in the division title race.

And LSU’s success thus far in putting together its 2023 recruiting class promises additional progress.

A win Saturday can accelerate that progress further. LSU and Bama perennially go head-to-head on numerous recruits, including many of their primary targets.

The outcome of the Tigers-Tide game can influence some of those decisions.

And given what has happened with the LSU program since that victory 3 years ago in Tuscaloosa, Kelly’s program can use a big boost in credibility.

The fact that the Tigers have so much to attain by winning this game provides some credibility — even if they don’t actually win it.

LSU is making progress, and Kelly can make a sales pitch to elite recruits that they can have a prominent role in returning the Tigers to national relevance.

It’s a pitch that might not be as compelling as the one made by the soon-to-be national champions 3 years ago.

But if LSU can go toe-to-toe with the Tide — and maybe even beat them — it might be able to sway a few top recruits and narrow the gap faster.

And in a couple years maybe those recruits will be Tigers rushing to the stands to tell the next generation that LSU is the place to be.