LSU coach Lane Kiffin doesn’t like talking to his teams about the College Football Playoff, because it would deviate from his process-oriented approach.

But there was no getting around the implications of Saturday’s game with No. 16 Mississippi State. Not only because of what a third SEC loss in four games would mean for the Tigers’ season but also what it would mean for Kiffin’s first year in Baton Rouge.

“I'm human, too,” said Kiffin, who would have been subjected to loud criticism nationally and locally if he started 1-3 in SEC play at LSU. “Last night's speech to the team, last thing I said, which I never usually say, ‘We have to win. We have to win tomorrow.’

“There’s no other option but winning this game, because I can’t imagine what this would have looked like.”

Kiffin didn’t need to let his imagination run wild for too long. Partially because the Bulldogs wouldn’t have star quarterback Kamario Taylor nor lead running back Fluff Bothwell available Saturday because of injuries.

But mainly because No. 22 LSU (5-2, 2-2 SEC) was equipped with a “kill mentality,” as quarterback Sam Leavitt put it, during a 31-0 win in Tiger Stadium on Saturday.

“We had a rough outing last weekend,” said Leavitt, referring to a 35-34 overtime loss at Kentucky. “Had another opportunity in front of the best fans in the nation to go put on a show and a performance.”

As hostile as road venues have been to LSU, home has been like heaven.

All five of LSU’s victories have come in Tiger Stadium by a combined score of 225-44. LSU is 29-4 against Mississippi State since the conference expanded in 1992, and the Tigers’ shutout marked their first in SEC play since a 45-0 win over the Bulldogs in 2007.

This game was never in doubt, even with Leavitt aggravating his hamstring injury during practices for Mississippi State and star edge rusher Princewill Umanmielen getting roughed up on a tackle early in the game.

It wouldn’t matter. The Bulldogs (4-2, 2-2) gained just 24 yards on their first three possessions, which featured a forced fumble by LSU edge rusher Jordan Ross to force a punt and a pick by Ty Benefield to short-circuit another possession.

Leavitt, who finished 31-of-38 passing for 289 yards and four touchdowns, continued to hone in on his decisiveness as a passer as he’s literally hamstrung as a runner. He dinked and dunked, rolling out and hitting Eugene Wilson just outside the end zone for a 10-yard score to get things going. Wilson pushed and shoved his way across the line.

After Benefield’s interception, Leavitt continued picking apart the opposing secondary, completing an 85-yard march on a 27-yard catch and run by Jackson Harris.

LSU would fumble away its third drive, but Leavitt picked up where he left off on the Tigers’ fourth possession. In the red zone, he found a wide-open Harris over the middle for a 17-yard touchdown to make it 21-0.

“Every single week, we've just gotten better, and I'm gonna keep saying it,” Leavitt said. “We keep playing cleaner ball, understanding just how this offense works. And then once it starts and gets going, it's pretty magical.”

The Tigers would hold onto the shutout thanks to a goal-line stop with under two minutes left in the first half, sacking Parker Puckett on third-and-goal at the LSU 2 and holding Mississippi State’s receiver out of the end zone on a quick fourth-down pass.

The Bulldogs’ last five drives of the game ended with a turnover on downs.

Puckett completed 11 of 15 for 82 yards through two quarters, but the Bulldogs had just 45 yards rushing on 21 carries. Puckett finished 16-of-26 passing for 121 yards.

“If we’re trying to shut somebody out, we don't really ever talk about it,” said Ross, who finished with a sack and 2.5 tackles for loss. “We really focus on one player at a time, and we try to dominate our opponent that way.”

LSU would play keep-away at the start of the third quarter, stringing together a 16-play, 74-yard field goal drive that consumed 8:10 of the clock. Tigers running back Dilin Jones not only had 84 yards rushing but also 58 yards receiving on eight catches.

Mississippi State wouldn’t touch the ball in the second half until the 6:45 mark of the third quarter. The possession ended with another turnover on downs as a Puckett pass went incomplete on fourth-and-7 on the LSU 35.

The very next LSU drive, Leavitt capped the Tigers’ fifth series of 60-plus yards with a 6-yard touchdown pass to Malik Elzy to make it 31-0.

Every positive was on the Tigers’ side of the ledger Saturday, aside from the injury count. Along with Umanmielen, Harris — who had six catches for 85 yards and two touchdowns — came up limping after an injury to his left leg. He jogged off to the locker room soon after.

“Doctors held him,” Kiffin said. “Obviously, the right thing to do. That’s all I got for you.”

LSU has just one more game to survive, a road trip to Auburn, before a Halloween weekend bye. There is a chance tight end Trey’Dez Green and, possibly, linebacker Whit Weeks could return on the other side of that break.

That will set up back-to-back home games against Alabama and Texas that could revive the Tigers’ playoff chances.

The Tigers are 2-2 in SEC play, rather than a disastrous 1-3.

They had only one option, and they took it.

“I feel like we can't lose, we can't lose another game,” Ross said. “That's our mindset.”