Will Wade finally has enough players for the rest of the Southeastern Conference to worry about who is on LSU’s basketball team instead of who isn’t. Lane Kiffin has enough football team left to make the next six weeks interesting, provided LSU can stop wasting opportunities away from Tiger Stadium.

Those were my main takeaways from Tuesday night’s Tiger Rag Radio. After two hours with Jeff Palermo, Glenn Guilbeau, Kace Kieschnick and our guests, I came away more convinced LSU basketball is being underestimated and LSU football still has a run in it. Neither opinion requires pretending the problems have disappeared.

Start with basketball, where Kieschnick spent much of Tuesday updating a story that kept changing as players received favorable eligibility decisions. By Wednesday, LSU’s official roster listed 14 players. That is a long way from the six Wade used to beat Central Florida in last week’s exhibition.

I asked Associated Press reporter Brett Martel whether he could really see this team finishing 14th in the SEC, where the preseason media poll placed it. He couldn’t. Neither can I. There is too much experience and too much ability here to accept that prediction without questioning what roster people thought they were evaluating.

That doesn’t make LSU a conference champion. It makes LSU a team worth examining before dismissing.

Jordy Hultberg, the former LSU guard who is now working alongside Chris Blair on the basketball radio broadcasts, gave us the most useful explanation of what Wade has assembled. Donovan Dent can handle the ball, get into the lane and create offense. Michael Ruzic can pull a big defender away from the basket. Adding Brice Dessert gives LSU a stronger presence inside and allows Ruzic more freedom to operate on the perimeter.

Hultberg expects Skyy Clark and Saliou Niang to join Dent, Ruzic and Dessert in the starting lineup. That is his projection, but it gives you an idea of how much the team changed in a day. LSU was trying to get through exhibitions with almost no bench. Now we can have a reasonable discussion about combinations and matchups.

Hultberg also raised the question that deserves attention: How well will this team shoot from outside? Abdi Bashir Jr. has already shown what he can do. Consistent shooting around him still has to be established, along with how well LSU’s frontcourt handles SEC physical play. Those are basketball questions. It is about time we got to ask them.

There is also a financial piece of this that should be understood clearly. I reported on the show that I was told last week all 15 players who had been practicing would receive their full compensation for the year under the deals made to bring them to LSU. That included RJ Luis, whose pursuit of eligibility Wade is now reportedly abandoning.

When I was asked whether that meant Luis would still be paid even if he didn’t play, my answer was yes. That is what I was told. I do not have a verified total for LSU’s basketball roster spending, and I am not going to manufacture one. But counting the players eligible to play does not, by itself, tell you the full cost of the commitments LSU made.

The expectations attached to spending are just as obvious in football. LSU is 5–2, and the Kentucky loss is becoming more aggravating as the rest of the SEC keeps beating itself. Peter Burns of the SEC Network said watching LSU handle Mississippi State made him revisit the decision to punt on fourth-and-1 at Kentucky. I understand the feeling. The opportunities around LSU have improved. The loss LSU could have avoided is still there.

Burns believes LSU is better than Auburn. So do I. My prediction Tuesday night was LSU 31, Auburn 23, and I’m staying with it.

That comes partly from my sense that this team is beginning to come together. It also comes from the matchup. I believe LSU’s passing game can challenge Auburn’s defense in ways Georgia’s did not during Auburn’s upset Saturday. Sam Leavitt threw four touchdown passes without a turnover against Mississippi State. LSU needs that kind of control again, particularly early, when the crowd at Jordan-Hare Stadium will be looking for a reason to get involved.

Glenn’s concerns were reasonable. LSU has not established that it can consistently run against a good run defense, and Auburn quarterback Byron Brown presents the kind of running threat that has caused LSU trouble. Lonn Phillips Sullivan of LSU Odyssey emphasized protecting the football, getting production from the running game and keeping Brown under control. None of that is complicated. Doing it on the road has been.

The interior offensive line remains a concern. Dilin Jones cannot be expected to make a defender miss at the line of scrimmage every time LSU needs a productive run. If LSU becomes dependent on Leavitt to solve every difficult down, it gives Auburn more opportunities to pressure him into a mistake.

I also wouldn’t treat the Mississippi State shutout as proof every defensive issue has been settled. The Bulldogs were missing quarterback Kamario Taylor and running back Fluff Bothwell. LSU has major injuries of its own, and nobody needs to apologize for winning 31–0. But evaluating what that game tells us requires acknowledging who Mississippi State did not have.

Kiffin’s discussion of relief syndrome after Auburn beat Georgia was worth hearing. A team wins a major game and spends the next several days being told how good it is. Maintaining the same urgency can become difficult. Auburn coach Alex Golesh acknowledged the flood of congratulatory messages himself. LSU can hope Auburn has an emotional letdown. It needs to prepare for a team that believes it has figured something out.

Burns made a useful point about LSU’s SEC road losing streak, too. Many of these players weren’t here for most of it. Kiffin wasn’t coaching those earlier teams. The history belongs to the program, but it doesn’t explain every problem this group has had. The penalties and mistakes at Ole Miss and Kentucky are more relevant because this team committed them. Those are the things LSU has to correct Saturday.

Win at Auburn, reach the open date and LSU gets a chance to recover before Alabama and Texas come to Baton Rouge. Tennessee and Arkansas await on the road. I believe LSU can win every one of those games. I also know it has not earned the benefit of assuming the next road trip will take care of itself.

Our discussion of the nine-game SEC schedule and playoff expansion comes back to that same difficulty. I like watching good conference games. I want to know how the selection process will account for the extra chance to lose one. Kiffin’s concern about how strength of schedule is rewarded is reasonable. If schools believe an easier schedule gives them a better playoff chance, they will make decisions accordingly.

Expanding the playoff can give more good teams a chance, but the number of places doesn’t settle how those teams should be compared. And if the conference championship game disappears as part of the changes we discussed, the SEC needs to be clear about what its schools gain. Giving up a major event and adding another demanding league game deserve a better explanation than an assurance that it will all work out.

LSU has spent aggressively to give Wade and Kiffin teams capable of competing. Wade can finally begin showing what his full roster looks like. Kiffin can give LSU a much better reason to believe in November by winning at Auburn. I expect him to do it. LSU has already left enough on the road this season.