It’s Alabama Week.

It’s Tell The Truth Monday.

Those two don’t usually mix well.

But LSU is working on it.

It was 3 years ago that Ed Orgeron famously said, “We comin’.”

The Tigers had just been very competitive but lost to Alabama 24-10 for the 7th consecutive game in what would become an 8-game losing streak against the Crimson Tide.

That streak was the biggest demon that Orgeron had to slay as LSU head coach. He had lost 10-0 a year earlier as the Tigers interim head coach.

Even the ultimate goal of winning a national championship didn’t hang over Orgeron’s program on a day-to-day basis the way that losing streak did.

It was a near-certainty that the Tigers would have to end that losing streak before they could mount a serious push toward the ultimate goal.

Then came 2019.

Joe Burrow met Joe Brady and the LSU offense met the record books.

The Tigers rolled to an 8-0 start and a No. 1 national ranking. They rolled into Bryant-Denny Stadium, where Orgeron had made his proclamation 2 years earlier, and prevailed 46-41.

The losing streak was over. An SEC championship was in sight, a CFP championship was attainable.

It turned out that exorcism in Tuscaloosa was the last nail-biter for LSU last season. It won each of its next 6 games by more than 2 touchdowns to complete one of the most dominant seasons in NCAA history.

LSU was comin’ all right.

It ended the losing streak against Alabama. It achieved the ultimate goal with the CFP title.

But that alone didn’t mean the Tigers had arrived.

Ending the losing streak was merely the first step. It showed LSU was the better team on that day.

The SEC and national championships validated that the 2019 LSU team was better than the 2019 Alabama team.

But that wasn’t what Orgeron was talking about.

“We comin’” meant the LSU program was on its way to catching the Alabama program.

That isn’t demonstrated by 1 win – or 1 SEC championship, or even 1 national championship.

That’s demonstrated by sustained success at the same level as the Crimson Tide – an ability to prevail head to head with some regularity, to be a perennial national-championship contender.

The Tigers came a long way in 2019, but they haven’t arrived.

The No. 2 Crimson Tide are undefeated and likely headed toward a return to the CFP after a one-year absence.

LSU isn’t.

The Tigers are 2-3. They will be prohibitive underdogs to the Tide on Saturday night in Tiger Stadium. They might not go to a bowl game.

We can’t dismiss what LSU did last season because of what’s happening this season. The historic level of performance last year – and the historic number and quality of personnel losses from last year’s team – practically guaranteed that this team would take a step backward.

It’s true, though, that it’s beginning to look like that step might be a larger step than was generally expected.

Perhaps the Tigers, likely playing with a backup quarterback and a defense constantly back on its heels, will rise up and play the Tide to the wire – maybe even pull a shocking upset.

After all, it’s 2020.

But even if LSU were to catch lightning in a bottle Saturday night, though no one is predicting that, it would be an aberration rather than a sign of the kind of sustainability necessary to pull even with the Alabama program.

Still, Orgeron has had a series of top-5 recruiting classes. He has a talented young team. He has an impressive list of commitments from high-school players.

He has strengthened the program since succeeding Les Miles.

LSU won’t suffer the kind of losses to the NFL after this season that it suffered after last season.

A bounce-back next season wouldn’t be shocking.

So the struggles of this season don’t necessarily mean the Tigers aren’t still headed in the right direction.

But they still have some “comin’” to do – regardless of what happens Saturday night.