Things have fallen pretty quickly for the LSU Tigers. Just a couple of seasons ago, they were jubilant after winning a national championship. And they had produced Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow. At that particular time, Ed Orgeron was one of the most celebrated people in the state.

What Orgeron found out was that once Burrow left and Joe Brady, the true architect of his offense, went on to become a coordinator in the NFL, success did not come so easy. And then there were some revelations about Orgeron's personal life that came to light. All of this produced a cocktail that led to his ouster as head coach, less than two years after that title triumph.

BetOnline customers have now seen a transition starting to take place in Baton Rouge. The university administration reached out and grabbed Brian Kelly away from Notre Dame, and there was a lot of hoopla associated with that. There is still some business for this football team, however. Orgeron is not on hand, and Kelly won't be on the sidelines, but LSU takes on Kansas State in the Texas Bowl, kicking off at 9 p.m. Eastern time at NRG Stadium in Houston.

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There is an interim coach for this game. It's Brad Davis, who was the offensive line coach , and he'll stay on with Kelly's staff. So that is a positive for the Bayou Bengals. What's negative is that enough of the players took off that it's going to have a real effect on both sides of the football.

Max Johnson, who threw 27 touchdown passes with only six interceptions, has entered the transfer portal. So did Myles Brennan, who has since come out of the portal but won't be available. There were injuries affecting other backups, so LSU went so far as to request a waiver for freshman Garrett Nussmeier so that he could compete in this game.

Nussmeier had played in four games, which is the limit if you want to retain your redshirt. But an appeal to the NCAA was denied.

So what's going to happen now is that LSU will go either with Tavion Faulk, son of Kevin Faulk, the former New England Patriots running back who is now LSU's running backs coach, or Matt O'Dowd, a walk-on, or a combination of both.

Either way, LSU will have a quarterback with no experience. And the top running back, Tyrion Davis-Price, who had over 1,000 yards and constituted the lion's share of the ground attack, has opted out of this game.

So all of this is not great news, despite the anticipation of how things are going to get better under Kelly.

In the Texas Bowl odds that have been posted on this game by the folks at BetOnline, Kansas State has now become a considerable favorite:

Kansas State Wildcats -9 (-107)
LSU Tigers +9 (-113)

Over 47 points - 113
Under 47 points- 107

As an SEC team with a considerable football tradition, LSU would be expected to have a lot of talent on hand. Great athletes are drawn to them, and they have more than their fair share of top-level recruits. Unquestionably they have more than Kansas State has on hand. What bowl games are not completely about that. They also reflect attitude. And you have to wonder about the kind of attitude LSU will be bringing into this, vis-a-vis that of K-State.

For example, LSU has a number of players — and when we say that we mean NFL-caliber players who have opted out of this game from the stop unit. That includes: Damone Clark, a linebacker who was one of the finalists for the Butkus Award; Neil Farrell, who had 10 tackles for loss this season; Derek Stingley, one of the top cornerbacks in the country, and Eli Ricks, one of the nation's top safeties. In the case of Ricks, he has announced a transfer to Alabama. As for the other guys, we will see them in the NFL.

Kansas State has managed to keep everybody together for this game. Whether that's a credit to head coach Chris Kleiman, we're not really prepared to answer. But it does represent did they have placed an importance on winning the Texas Bowl.

It's interesting that on the one side, we are going to be seeing quarterbacks that have never thrown a pass in NCAA competition before, but on the other side — Kansas State's side — we have a sixth-year senior in Skylar Thompson who has started 42 games as a collegian and is known for his leadership qualities. Thompson does not possess an NFL-caliber arm, nor is he a big threat to run the ball. But he does take care of it, throwing only four interceptions.

The fact is, Thompson doesn't really need to run with the football, because he's got the most dynamic offensive weapon on the field in RB Deuce Vaughn, who compiled over 1,700 yards all-purpose offense and scored 18 times.

Collin Klein was named offensive coordinator recently, and if you remember him, you know that he was one of those quarterbacks at Kansas State who essentially took the ball and ran it into the line a lot, with more than his share of success. What we're trying to say is that we would expect more or less a conservative approach from the Wildcats. Ball control will be important, with the hope that Vaughn, who averaged 5.9 yards per carry, will break loose a few times on big plays.

Because LSU is short-handed on the offensive side, Kansas State should have some success a neutralizing their ground attack, in as much as they allow just 3.6 yards per rush attempt. Unless something we are not expecting — and aerial circus from LSU — surfaces.

We know that this line has really shot up with the news that Nussmeier was not going to be able to play. And if we had to pick a side, we are going with Kansas State. But we have to say that the UNDER in this game looks like the more appetizing option.

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