LSU bounced back nicely from its uninspired performance at Arkansas last week.

The Tigers took care of their business against UAB, handling the Blazers 41-10 in their home finale on Saturday night at Tiger Stadium.

Jayden Daniels was outstanding, the offense had good balance and the defense clogged up one of the better running games in the country.

But it’s Tell the Truth Monday, which requires looking for blemishes in victories, just as it requires looking for bright spots in defeat — even if periodic picking of nits is necessary.

As the stakes get higher for the possible soon-to-be No. 5 Tigers, the scrutiny of Tell the Truth Monday must intensify.

LSU (9-2, 6-1 SEC) is going on the road to play Texas A&M (4-7, 1-6) on Saturday night, then it will face top-ranked Georgia for the SEC championship and potentially a berth in the College Football Playoff.

A comfortable win against a gutsy but clearly outmanned Conference USA team that was winless on the road is nice. But it’s not indicative of a team ready to win a conference championship and compete for a national championship.

The Tigers have more work to do.

The special teams aren’t fixed. They’re better than they were during a disastrous September. And recently they looked like they might be pretty good.

But on Saturday night, after the offense drove 79 yards in 9 plays for a touchdown on the game’s 1st possession, the kickoff team had a breakdown.

Jermaine Brown Jr. broke free for a 66-yard return to the Tigers’ 30, stunting at least momentarily the momentum from the opening drive and providing a confidence boost to the visitors.

Championship teams rarely make special teams blunders. In fact, they usually count on an edge in special teams being a factor in becoming champions.

Allowing a blocked kick, or a long punt or kickoff return, or a turnover in the return game, or just missing a kick that should be made can be crippling in championship games.

LSU has had all of those blunders at 1 time or another — and it can’t afford any more.

After the kickoff return on Saturday came pass completions of 16 and 9 yards, and a 5-yard touchdown run.

So, while we’re telling the truth, the ease with which the touchdown came and with which the 63-yard drive to a field goal that followed LSU’s 2nd touchdown came was a reminder that slow starts have been commonplace for this team.

The Tigers never trailed in this game, but a 7-0 lead became a tied score in the blink of an eye and a 14-7 lead became a 14-10 edge almost as quickly.

That’s not nearly as bad as the holes LSU has dug itself in every SEC game but one, but it’s a reminder that slow starts and having to play from behind can be lethal when competing for championships.

Then there are the turnovers — which have not been a consistent problem — as the Tigers were a minus-2 in the turnover margin against UAB because John Emery Jr. lost 2 fumbles, both in the Blazers’ end of the field.

Obviously, that can’t continue.

Running back Josh Williams was held out Saturday, and after the game head coach Brian Kelly said Armoni Goodwin is done for the season. So, Noah Cain got his chance and responded with 3 touchdowns.

It appears Williams will be back this week, and he and Cain might have to handle most of the workload going forward.

So, the truth is that better starts, the elimination of special teams’ breakdowns and minimizing turnovers all must be priorities.

Another truth is that one of the biggest strengths that Kelly and his staff have shown this season is the ability to identify and improve problem areas.

The problem areas are easily identifiable.

And the team has an encouraging track record with fixing stuff.

The truth also is that when you’re about to play for at least 1 championship and you have to nit-pick to find shortcomings, you’re in pretty good shape.