That dad-blamed NCAA transfer portal is swirling around like a tornado and quite a few heads are spinning too.

It’s almost too much to keep up with.

But, since you asked — and if you watched LSU’s 38-scholarship-strong performance in the Texas Bowl — it’s probably a good and very convenient thing for the Tigers and new coach Brian Kelly this year.

He was there in Houston for the short-handed 42-20 shellacking by Kansas State, against whom the Tigers did about as much as they could, which wasn’t much.

He made a TV appearance during the broadcast and alerted the portal that he was about to be a frequent customer. It was likely a premeditated announcement. He probably didn’t need to see the game to realize the dire straits his new team was in.

It’s not his long-term solution, he said, and, echoing just about every other coach out there, added that he doesn’t want to make a habit of dipping heavily into it.

But, this year, of all years, he really needs immediate help in a lot of places, and there’s a lot available in that bulging portal.

When the Tigers reconvene with their new coach, it won’t be quite as thin a roster as the Texas Bowl suggested.

For one thing, it will be a full quarterback room without bringing in any wide receivers for emergency duty.

A strong one at that.

But there were glaring holes nonetheless.

Contrary to rumor, there are some rules to the portal. Not many. But some.

Basically, any school can add up to seven extra players to the usual 25 for an incoming class — provided they lose at least seven of their own to the portal (if you only lost five, for instance, you could add five).

LSU cracked that magic number long ago, most notably cornerback Eli Ricks to Alabama and quarterback Max Johnson to Texas A&M.

So LSU has 32 scholarships total. The Tigers signed 13 high school seniors in December and will sign some more during the February signing period.

But probably not many more.

You can sign as many transfers as you like so long as its total number, plus the standard recruiting class, doesn’t exceed 32.

LSU has 11 transfers coming in. Add them to the 13 signed recruits — I’ll do the math for you, it’s 24 — and it leaves LSU with eight more scholarships to give to either transfers or traditional recruits.

LSU will need every one of them, and likely will leave a couple or three open beyond the Feb. 2 signing date. After spring practice there figures to be another assault on the portal as additional players search for more user-friendly depth charts.

But apparently Kelly is playing the game to perfection right now.

The website 247Sports. com, which used to pester us mostly with high school and junior college recruiting rankings, has expanded to monitor the dizziness of the portal comings and goings. It ranks LSU’s transfers as No. 1 in the nation for its cherry-picking efforts.

The biggest need was offensive linemen and Kelly has nabbed Miles Frazier, a freshman all-American at Florida International last season, and Tre’Mond Shorts, a two-time FCS all-American at East Tennessee State. And they’re probably not done at that position.

But you know you’re all in on the portal when among the transfers are a long snapper (Slade Roy from East Carolina) and a punter (Jay Bramlett from Notre Dame), positions you can normally fill with a stroll down fraternity row.

For that matter, is this a portal or a pipeline between LSU and Arkansas?

The Tigers have lured home two Louisiana natives from the Razorbacks’ starting secondary — safety Joe Foucha and cornerback Greg Brooks — while former Tigers Dwight McGlothern and Landon Jackson are heading to Fayetteville.

OK — I’ll say it. If there was a Tiger to be named later in that swap, shouldn’t the Tigers have sent defensive back Pig Cage up there?

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Scooter Hobbs covers LSU athletics. Email him at scooter.hobbs@americanpress.com