Just how good is LSU this season?

BATON ROUGE -- How good is LSU? At this point, we don't really know.

According to the polls, the Tigers are Lawrence Welk-ish. They've been everyone, from a "1 and a 2 and a 3."

But we will all find out on Saturday when the No. 3 Tigers (5-0, 1-0 Southeastern Conference) play No. 11 Florida (4-0, 3-0 SEC) at 2:30 p.m. in Gainesville, Fla., on CBS.

So far, LSU has beaten two bad teams (North Texas and Idaho) badly, played badly in beating two other bad teams (Auburn and Towson), including one barely (Auburn), and beat a good team badly (Washington). Washington fell 41-3 at LSU on Sept. 8. Now it is No. 23 in the nation in one poll after knocking off then-No. 9 Stanford and LSU's only ranked victim.

Funny thing about college football and its beauty parlor rankings. The highlight of LSU's weekend was the outcome of a game Thursday night 2,500 miles away in Seattle. It was not the Tigers' 38-22 win over Towson Saturday night.

So just how good is LSU this season? The Tigers certainly did not resemble a top five team in beating unranked and 1-3 Auburn, 12-10, last week at Auburn. It looked worse against lower division Towson.

"It was the same style of football we played last week," a frustrated and uncharacteristically testy LSU coach Les Miles said after the game.

LSU played down to Auburn and to Towson. That can work in the NFL. It doesn't work in college. LSU has won and descended in the polls and probably should have gone down more.

The defense appears to be playing as well or nearly as well as last year's dominant unit as the Tigers are No. 2 in the SEC in total defense and No. 4 nationally with 217.8 yards allowed a game. It thoroughly stuffed Auburn, but it did allow an 80-yard drive to Towson in the fourth quarter Saturday that exasperated Miles.

The offense is not playing as well as advertised. Neither is quarterback Zach Mettenberger. LSU is 12th in the SEC and 93rd in the nation in pass offense with 203 yards a game.

"We've been sloppy week in and week out," said Mettenberger, who has lost three fumbles in two weeks and is seventh in the SEC in passing efficiency. "Right now, we aren't playing LSU football. It was just sloppy play. I'm very disappointed in myself and the team right now."

Florida, meanwhile, looks improved over the Gator carcasses that lost 41-11 at No. 1 LSU last Oct. 8. The Tigers led that one 24-3 at the half, and it was over. Look for a tighter game Saturday.

Florida quarterback Jacoby Brissett, a true freshman last season who threw two interceptions in his first career start at LSU with regular starter John Brantley injured, is not the starter. Sophomore Jeff Driskel is the quarterback and has done the job under new offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Brent Pease, who left the same job at wide open Boise State to replace the disaster that was Charlie Weis and has shown progress. Driskel is sixth in the SEC in efficiency on 55-of-79 passing for 698 yards and four touchdowns with one interception for a 158 rating.

"Oh, I've been very pleased," Florida coach Will Muschamp said. "But again, I expected it. Jeff is very talented, but he's also a cerebral guy who's going to work at it. I felt comfortable about that position all along. I never once blinked about the quarterback position."

The Gators are running the ball better, too. They are third in the SEC with 224.5 yards a game after finishing eighth last year with 143 a game. Senior tailback Mike Gillislee is second in the SEC with 100.5 yards a game. Florida's total offense numbers are up to 407 a game for eighth in the league after finishing 10th last year with 328 a game and 10th in the last year of the slipping Urban Meyer era in 2010 with 350 a game.

Unlike last season, Florida has not blinked in the second half and fourth quarter. The Gators have outscored opponents 34-0 in the final period, including a 10-0 run at Tennessee in a 37-20 victory after trailing 14-10 at the half and a 7-0 run in a 20-17 win at Texas A&M after trailing 17-10 at the half.

"I think we're a stronger football team," said Muschamp, who last year became the first Florida coach since Galen Hall in 1987 to lose six games. "We're a more physical bunch because we've been able to practice a little differently than we were a year ago because of our depth. We're a much more mature team than we were. We inherited a young, talented team, but most of those guys were playing for the first time through a full year in the SEC. And over 70% of our roster was freshmen and sophomores last year. This year we have experience and depth on both lines of scrimmage."

Sounds like Florida is ready. Is LSU?

Maybe Miles, athletics director Joe Alleva and former chancellor Mike Martin knew what they were doing when they tried to end the yearly series with Florida at the spring meetings in Destin, Fla., last May. Kentucky (1-4, 0-2 SEC) would be much more of a sure thing as a permanent SEC East opponent than Florida this year for LSU. Or would another sloppy win over another sloppy opponent like a Kentucky only prolong the inevitable for the seemingly overrated Tigers?

"Games like this, we're playing Towson, it just seemed guys weren't into it," Mettenberger said. "It's tough to get into a game like that. But if you are great players, it shouldn't matter."

Unless, LSU suddenly "gets into it," Mettenberger may have answered the question.