A year ago LSU led the entire nation in third-down conversions — and by a wide margin.

This year?

Just say that if the number geeks want to figure out the Tigers’ offensive woes, that would be a good place to start.

Remember last year?

No third-down degree of difficulty seemed to be much of a hurdle as Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham always seemed to get open for a Zach Mettenberger bullet and short yardage was a near gimme with Jeremy Hill in the backfield.

Nobody did it better — a .571 conversion rate.

But with those four now in the NFL, the current drop off is startling.

How impressive was that .571 conversion rate?

Louisville was second in the NCAA at .560, but only six of the Football Bowl Subdivision 121 other teams managed more than 50 percent. Texas A&M was the second-best Southeastern Conference team at .503.

This year you have to scroll way down the NCAA leaders to find the Tigers.

LSU has converted just .347 of its third downs, which ranks No. 104 in the nation.

(If you’re looking for hope as LSU heads to Florida Saturday night, the Gators rank No. 105 at .346.)

But even at LSU’s low mark, it’s somewhat misleading, buoyed as it is by fair-to-good conversion rates against outmanned opponents.

It’s been a total eyesore against real competition.

The biggest stat that jumped off the page in Saturday’s embarrassing 41-7 loss to Auburn was a total whiff on third-down conversions — 0-for-13.

It shouldn’t have been a shock. LSU was 2-for-13 in its other SEC game against Mississippi State.

That’s 2-for-26 in conference play, less than 10 percent at .077.

In layman’s terms, last year third down was better than a 50-50 proposition, while in SEC play this year it’s been less than a 1-in-10 shot.

The bored chain gang might as well be Maytag repairmen.

LSU’s lone touchdown drive at Auburn managed to avoid third down altogether.

But coming up against a third down, even a short one, looked like climbing Mount Everest.

When things got really desperate, the Tigers decided to try, try again after failing — but converted only 1 of 4 fourth-down gambles.

Head coach Les Miles in a way traces the defensive struggles to the short-lived offensive possessions.

At Auburn the Tigers were turnover-free, but five of LSU’s first six possessions were three-and-outs, 8 of 13 overall.

“If we get this offense moving the ball,” Miles said, “this defense has given great effort and energy.”

But where to start with a young offense?

Coaches will tell you the key to keeping the chains moving is getting ahead on first down.

But evidently it’s not a surefire cure.

Fans, as always, may call for more first-down passing, but the Tigers were fine running on first down against Auburn, particularly early when the game was still in doubt.

The one scoring drive started with a 10-yard run and bypassed third downs.

On their other first six possessions the Tigers, running on first down every time, never gained fewer than 5 yards to start a drive.

None of them ended in a third-down conversion, not even Darrell Williams’ 9-yard run to start the third drive.

It was eventually a third-and-8 mountain after quarterback Brandon Harris lost 2 yards on second down and Ethan Pocic had a false start for a 5-yard penalty before the Tigers could get off the third-down play.

It was kind of typical of the night.

“Without doing the arithmetic, we were probably averaging 7 or 8 yards on first-and-10,” Miles said. “Then (with) simple opportunities to convert in short yardage, really, we went with a mistake, and those mistakes really cost the offense the opportunity to the move the football.”

Just look at LSU’s first six third-down failures, with first-down run yardage followed by second down in parenthesis: 6 (minus-3), 8 (0), 9 (minus-2), 7 (minus-1), 6 (2) and 5 (0).

Harris, a true freshman making his first start at quarterback, set the tone on the game’s opening possession when he fumbled the snap on second down — second-and-4 became third-and-7.

“We have to improve there,” Miles said. “But we have talent there. The good news is we have good players — our receiving corps, our quarterbacks, I think, the offensive line. I think that offense can be very productive, really in short order. (They need to) relax, be comfortable, do the things they can do. We’re not going to ask them to do things they can’t do.”(Associated Press)

Brynn Anderson