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LSU has won 4 games in a row.

That is the longest winning streak since the 15-0 national championship season in 2019.

The Tigers are 4-1 overall and 2-0 in the SEC after a sloppy but nevertheless significant 21-17 win at Auburn on Saturday night.

It’s Tell the Truth Monday, and the truth is LSU still has a lot to prove — even if it’s improved enough to sneak into the AP poll at No. 25 on Sunday.

The Tigers will have a chance to prove themselves this Saturday when they play against a ranked team for the first time this season – meeting number 8 Tennessee at Tiger Stadium.

If the Tigers manage to upset the volunteers, they will match their SEC gains from last season.

That will cost them their best performance of the season. It will take a much better performance than the one they put in on Saturday night.

In their 1st SEC game, LSU trailed Mississippi State 13-0 in the 2nd quarter and roared back to win 31-13.

Saturday night, it trailed Auburn 17-0 in the 2nd quarter and roared back to win 21-17.

So in roughly the first 29 minutes against State and the first 23 minutes against Auburn, LSU was outmatched by a total of 30-0.

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That’s very bad.

But in roughly the last 31 minutes against State and the last 37 against Auburn, it surpassed the opposition 52-3.

That is very good.

The truth is that this points to a team that was not as well prepared to start those games as its opponents. That debt must be shared by coaches and players.

The truth is that before the games were halfway through, LSU started to turn things around and dominate the rest of the way. That credit must also be shared by coaches and players.

But if LSU starts against the Tennessee like it started against State and Auburn, it’s going to be very, very hard to duplicate the turnaround it’s had in the 1st 2 SEC games.

Tennessee averages 48.5 points per game. It’s hard to imagine LSU slowing the Vols’ offense the way it delayed State and Auburn’s offenses by more than half.

It’s also hard to imagine the LSU attack scoring enough points to overcome a double-digit deficit against the Vols.

The truth is, LSU needs to get off to a better start.

It should defend the pass a lot better than Saturday night. It gave up 337 passing yards to Auburn. If it has against Tennessee the kind of breakdowns it had against Auburn, the Vols will keep their showy scoring average intact.

Head coach Brian Kelly said the breakdowns were mostly due to communication issues, which were not as problematic in the 2nd half as they were in the 1st.

Safety Major Burns started what is expected to be a minimum 3-game absence due to a neck injury. His replacement, Arkansas transfer Joe Foucha, made his LSU debut after failing to qualify for the first 4 games.

If LSU can’t pass the ball better than against Auburn – 85 yards – it will face the biggest deficit it has faced in the SEC game. In fact, he will have to pass the ball a lot better.

Much of that will depend on how healthy Jayden Daniels is after leaving the last 2 games early due to injuries. He had a low back injury against New Mexico last week but was good enough to start against Auburn

Daniels injured a knee on Saturday. Kelly said there was no structural damage and Daniels could have returned to the game and should be fine to start against Tennessee.

But much of the success of the passing game will have to do with the wide receivers.

They are the most talented and deepest unit of the team, but their collective productivity does not match their collective talent.

There were communication issues with Daniels and 4 drops against Auburn.

The truth is Daniels needs to be better, the wide receivers need to be better and the pass defense needs to be better.

But if the Tigers can stay on the positive side of sales (plus-3 against Auburn), they can mitigate some shortcomings.

On this Tell the Truth Monday, this is the biggest truth of all: Kelly and his staff must find a way to get LSU to play for 60 minutes as it played in the last 30 minutes of the 1st 2 SEC games.