The SEC Media Days voting this past week that tabbed LSU to finish fifth in the league's Western Division in 2018 made it official.
This season is a bridge year for the Tigers.
It's one of those seasons in which a team is a year away from having enough required talent to challenge for a division and conference championship.
Therefore, there's a bridge to get to the land of high expectations and getting across that bridge requires limitless patience.
Such tolerance is in short supply for teams embarking on bridge seasons like LSU.
The Tigers haven't had many years of lowered expectations since Nick Saban arrived in Baton Rouge in 2000 followed by Les Miles in 2005 and Ed Orgeron starting in game five of 2016.