• LSU’s defense of its CFP Championship begins after a three-week delay. The Mike Leach era at Mississippi State begins after a similar game-day void. The SEC season is finally ready to kick off after COVID-19 changes to the schedule and the No. 6 Tigers host the Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon in Baton Rouge, La., in the marquee game of the first weekend.

• LSU sent 14 players, including Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback and overall No. 1 pick Joe Burrow, to the NFL off of last season’s 15-0 team. Reigning Biletnikoff Award winner Ja’Marr Chase and standout defensive tackle Tyler Shelvin opted out of the season last month to focus on next year’s NFL Draft. So the expectation is that the talented, but young and rebuilding Tigers will be unable to approach last year’s success. Their lofty preseason ranking has to be viewed in the context of Big Ten and Pac-12 teams not being included as well as the fact that three of the teams ahead of them are SEC rivals Alabama, Georgia and Florida. Fourth-year junior Myles Brennan will make his first career start Saturday as the successor to Burrow, now the quarterback of the Cincinnati Bengals.

• Leach arrives after successful tenures at Texas Tech and most recently Washington State. He replaced Joe Moorhead, who was fired after two seasons. Another key newcomer is former Stanford quarterback K.J. Costello, a graduate transfer. Leach’s teams have perennially featured one of the most productive passing offenses in the country. It remains to be seen how quickly Leach will be successful with the Bulldogs, but his arrival was one of the biggest headlines in the SEC during the offseason.

• COVID-19 restrictions included the elimination of SEC nonconference schedules and an expansion of the league schedule.

• Tiger Stadium will feature about 25,000 fans as attendance is limited to one-quarter of capacity as a COVID-19 precaution.