LSU wasn’t supposed to be in Atlanta on Saturday.

The Fighting Tigers were projected to finish sixth in the SEC West with a 6-6 record, just ahead of the tailspinning Auburn whatevers.

Last season in the final year of Ed Orgeron’s tenure in Death Valley, LSU had a regular season record of 6-6 and went 3-5 in the SEC. The Tigers also broke even the year before that in the all-conference shortened COVID-19 season.

To the LSU Athletic Department ‘s credit they recognized the post-Burrow Orgeron Era for what it was: a shining miracle in a midst of mediocrity, and bit the painful financial bullet dumping a lifetime supply of what Orgeron charitably referred to as hamburger money into their podnuh’s lap.

The search for a new coach brought in Notre Dame’s Brian Kelly, who decidedly wasn’t one of us no matter how artfully or absurdly he attempted to sound like us.

Yet the Purple and Golden Twitter Horde was out for blood after game one, when LSU lost their opener against a previously tested Florida State team.

Sure Duquesne is a cupcake (or a macaroon) but the newly led LSU squad took the field on an empty stomach. Yes LSU played sloppy and they lost but the Tigers fought their way back into the game, losing out on overtime when their extra point attempt was blocked.

I thought the trolling and tantrums about Kelly and the team were unfair and irrational, the stuff folks do to create retweet insult fodder and not truly size up the state of the affairs.

But that’s what passes for commentary across society in this day and age.

And especially athletics, where drama queening and snark are the norm to score clicks. Call it the Jim Rome Effect.

But all was far from.lost; there were 11 games left on the calendar and 8 of them actual conference games.

Kelly and the Tigers rebounded from that heartbreaking loss to put together a four game streak before running into a buzzsaw in the resurgent Tennessee football program.

And after that beat down LSU righted the season with a win over Florida at The Swamp and then kneecapped 7th ranked Ole Miss before playing in what was the signature game of Kelly’s maiden season under the stately oaks.

LSU not only defeated Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide but polished it off with a gutsy overtime “go for two” play call that emptied the stands out on to the field.

Though it was the ninth game on the schedule the victory over Alabama was truly the start of the Brian Kelly Era.

And in an obscure footnote, LSU handily put away Alabama-Birmingham.

To the casual fan, LSU beating the Conference USA Blazers might seem mundane but talk to anyone who was in Tiger Stadium in 2000 when the Tigers faced Puff the Magic Dragon’s northern Alabama kin.

We remember that painful game as does Saban, who called the rent-a-loss to UAB a low point in his career.

Granted things got less magical thereafter.

LSU didn’t so much have a reality check in Arkansas as they got out of Fayetteville with a close win courtesy of a generous ball spot but it was a chilly reminder that LSU, while heading in the right direction, was not anywhere near the destination.

The wheels coming off in College Station after Thanksgiving proved to be the violent shake that woke everyone up from the dream of being in the playoff. The fates of TCU and USC became irrelevant all of a sudden.

And though LSU lost badly in the SEC Championship game to the rightfully number one ranked Bulldogs the Tigers never gave up clawing their way to whatever speck of light they could see in a game that was essentially lost before halftime.

There’s a world of difference between not winning and not quitting.

LSU didn’t deserve to be a part of the national championship conversation, and Texas A&M provided that reality check last Saturday, but the Tigers exceeded all expectations to not only pull off upsets and secure a winning season but land themselves in a bowl of some profile.

It’s not the Cotton Bowl (congrats Tulane) but the Citrus Bowl is a step forward from last season and a great leap forward for the program overall.

What we saw this season wasn’t just a rebuild but the construction of a solid foundation under a coach who has earned our confidence.

Better days are ahead.