| It's become an all-too-familiar exercise for the LSU Tigers: Trying to figure out how to move forward without a key, now injured, player. It happened after the opener with Southern California when running back John Emery was lost for the season with a knee injury. It happened again when the Tigers lost defensive tackle Jacobian Guillory to a season-ending Achilles injury. Now the third time is the harm as star linebacker Harold Perkins, a preseason All-American, went down in Saturday's 34-17 victory over UCLA with a torn ACL. Like Emery and Guillory, he's also lost for the season. LSU coach Brian Kelly talked at his Monday news conference about how the Tigers will have to replace Perkins. Thing is, there is no adequate way to replace Perkins, who was arguably the most talented player on either side of the ball. In my column I talk about how Perkins, who may well have played his last game as a Tigers, leaves behind an unfinished and unfulfilled legacy. Two former LSU players with tremendous legacies — Joe Burrow and Jayden Daniels — hooked up Monday night in an historic encounter. Daniels and his Washington Commanders (2-1) may have made Burrow and his now 0-3 Cincinnati Bengals history as far as the NFL playoffs are concerned with a thrilling 38-33 victory. Burrow was very good, but Daniels was dazzling, sure to be the buzz of the NFL this week. Speaking of voids to fill, LSU women's basketball coach Kim Mulkey has a big one after the departure of Angel Reese to the WNBA. But she sounded confident in her team as the Tigers officially opened preseason practice Monday before a several hundred curious onlookers in the PMAC. One Tiger who wasn't in action Monday was Aaylah Del Rosario — find out why and when she may be back. Lastly on women's basketball, we have a tip time for LSU's SEC/ACC Challenge game with Stanford on Dec. 5. How strange it is to refer to Stanford as a member of the ACC, but there it is are. Finally, our Wilson Alexander has opened up his mailbag to gather all of your burning questions about the Tigers this week as they enter their final non-conference game of the season Saturday against South Alabama (6:45 p.m., SEC Network). Click on this link to find the link to send him your question. Well, that's a full, rich day for you. We'll do this again tomorrow and every day here on the LSU beat, as The Advocate/The Times-Picayune continues to bring you the most comprehensive coverage of LSU athletics anywhere. Until we meet again, Scott Rabalais | 