How LSU Rainout Impacts Tigers' 2015 Season

Coming into the season opener, the worst-case scenario for LSU and new starting quarterback Brandon Harris would have been a lackluster offensive performance against McNeese State for a unit that has been stagnant for the better part of a decade.

Right?

Well, Mother Nature threw a curveball and presented the real worst-case scenario Saturday night in Death Valley.

LSU's season opener versus the Cowboys was cancelled due to rain and lightning that moved into the Baton Rouge area shortly after kickoff and never let up, preventing the Tigers from getting in a much-needed tuneup save for a few plays early before the rains came.

For Harris, you couldn't have drawn up a worse scenario.

"

All part of God's plan. He knows why. Therefore, no questions ask.

— Brandon Harris (@bharrisqb1) September 6, 2015"

Harris' lone start for the Tigers came on the road last year at Auburn after Anthony Jennings was ineffective for the majority of the first month of last season. He struggled that night on the Plains, completing just three of his 14 passes for 58 yards before being replaced by Jennings.

One look at LSU's schedule, and you can see there's a chance of history repeating itself.

Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

Harris' first real start of the 2015 season will come Saturday night in Starkville, Mississippi, in front of those raucous Mississippi State fans and their deafening cowbells at Davis Wade Stadium. What's more, that will serve as the Bulldogs' home opener, so you'll know they'll be excited to give Harris and Co. a rude welcome after sleep-walking on the road in an ugly win over Southern Miss.

"We would have liked to prepare best for Mississippi State, having our first game under our belt before we played them," head coach Les Miles said, according to Ross Dellenger of the Advocate. "That's why we waited as long as we could. The idea that we wait until just before midnight to see if we could possibly get on the field and play until 3 o'clock in the morning was not in the best interest of our players."

Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

LSU needed to figure out what it had with Harris—who essentially has held down the starting job for the duration of fall camp after inheriting it during the offseason while Jennings was suspended.

"He's taken the first snaps in every practice throughout the fall," Miles said on last week's teleconference.

Now Harris and Miles will head on the road to a tough environment with no knowledge about how the downfield passing game will look against a team wearing the other color jersey. That team, Mississippi State, forced two interceptions and sacked Southern Miss quarterback Nick Mullens three times.

As SEC Network's Booger McFarland noted on Twitter, a player and a team improves the most once it has a game in the books:

Now LSU will line up against an underrated secondary led by Will Redmond with no proven playmaker outside other than receiver Travin Dural. Could Malachi Dupre be a star? Maybe. He certainly has the talent. But it would be fantastic for Miles and Co. to work on that against a team wearing another color jersey.

Defensively, the Tigers have no idea how the new-look unit led by Kevin Steele will perform. Can they get pressure? They managed just 19 sacks a year ago, and Steele has a history of being more of a 3-4 coach. How will he blend his style with 4-3 personnel?

For LSU to get back into contention in the SEC West, it doesn't just have the quarterback issue to fix. It has questions all over the board.

Now the Tigers are walking into a two-game stretch versus Mississippi State and Auburn that will make or break their season blind, all because of Mother Nature.

Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and national college football video analyst for Bleacher Report as well as a host on Bleacher Report Radio on SiriusXM 83. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.