| Brian Kelly is LSU's defender of the faith. Or, more to the point, he defends faith in his defense. The Tigers had their moments, but again got shredded in the second half Saturday night against Arkansas. LSU got the 34-31 victory thanks to its offense, which scored on its last six possessions. But the defense got rolled up to the tune of 429 total yards by the Razorbacks. At his Monday presser to kick off Ole Miss week, Kelly admitted the Tigers have issues on defense. But he was just as quick to say that LSU can still have a very good defense if the Tigers do one simple thing. LSU women's basketball coach Kim Mulkey followed Kelly to the podium at Tiger Stadium's Lawton Room. Her team began its quest for a second straight national championshp Monday with an open practice that drew about 2,500 fans. We have a photo gallery of the day for you as well. Back to football. In my column I address just how good (or not) a team LSU is at this point, and what is the prognosis for the Tigers. As is often the case with LSU football, it isn't an easy question to answer. We now have a kickoff time and network for LSU's game next week against Missouri. Those Tigers are one of the surprises of the SEC so far at 4-0 and with a game at Vanderbilt on Saturday stand a good chance to be 5-0 when they host LSU on Oct. 7. Kelly also had an update on safety Greg Brooks as he continues to recover from surgery earlier this month to remove a brain tumor. Kelly also answered questions about a controversial penalty called Saturday on linebacker Harold Perkins. Finally, we've got the first look at LSU's redone basketball court, one that honors both late women's coach Sue Gunter and former men's coach Dale Brown, as well as Mulkey's national champions. But the names of the two legendary coaches aren't exactly as we expected to find them. That's all for today, folks. Thank you for reading and subscribing. Stay tuned for our daily LSU newsletters and our wealth of coverage of LSU athletics. If we could name a court after someone, it would be you. Really. Scott Rabalais | 
