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Now that the proverbial dust has settled from Rivalry Week, the new College Football Playoff rankings have been released, perhaps the biggest loser from this past college football week are the LSU Tigers.

LSU, who was rumored—and reported by various media outlets—to have had an agreement in place to hire then-Houston Cougars head coach Tom Herman, would see the man they wanted become the new head coach of the Texas Longhorns instead.

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Herman, who would be the second high-profile head coach to turn down LSU, after former offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach—and current Florida State head coach—in Jimbo Fisher turned down their latest overture, LSU has got to feel like the unwitting sucker who got cleaned out in a high-stakes Las Vegas game of poker in having to settle for Ed Orgeron.

Orgeron, a native of Larose, Louisiana and a former player back in his day is sure to appeal to prospective recruits from the Pelican State. Thanks to his experience in coaching in Oxford at Ole Miss, in star-studded Hollywood at USC and most recently for his alma mater in filling in for the recently-fired Les Miles.

While his and aw-shucks, country-strong Cajun accent will appeal to many down in the bayou, Orgeron’s 21-29 coaching record—5-2 as interim head coach at LSU—feels like the cheap third-place prize/participation trophy handed to the Tigers out of pity.

Mainly, what I’m trying to say is that they got played.

To go from Jimbo Fisher and Tom Herman to…Ed Orgeron, seriously!

Think about this, in a conference that features the Darth Vader of college football coaches in Nick Saban, how can Orgeron honestly help LSU compete against the Death Star that is Alabama off the field in recruiting and on the field in actual games?

LSU was the proverbial rope in getting rope-a-doped, they were used and discarded like the cheap girlfriend/side piece in a long and seedy affair. They were the third wheel that was never wanted. They played themselves in getting duped and ultimately got ear-hustled.

But for such a BIG-TIME college football program as LSU that plays in the best conference in all of college football—Yawn…yes, I’m tired of the proverbial SEC daily deification too! –how and why, I’ll never know.

With all of their money and resources, it’s shocking that LSU didn’t even consider the likes of Mark Helfrich (Oregon), Greg Schiano (Ohio State), Gene Chizik (North Carolina), Charlie Strong, Tim Drevno (Michigan), Brent Venables (Clemson), Mike Sanford (Notre Dame), Sonny Cumble and Doug Meacham (TCU), Willie Taggart (South Florida), Lincoln Riley (Oklahoma), Troy Calhoun (Air Force) or P.J. Fleck (Western Michigan).

It’s not like they wouldn’t jump at the chance to be the man in Baton Rouge.

SEC programs such as LSU don’t lose out on many things, especially when it comes to head coaches, as the allure and prestige in coaching in such a powerhouse conference is almost irresistible, but to lose out to such a down-and-out program as Texas is inexcusable.

Right now, LSU had better be confident that their choice in Orgeron is the right one and that it’ll pay dividends in the ever-brutal and cutthroat world of King Football down in Dixie, because if not, then they will be right back where they started in looking for another head coach all over again.