It didn’t take long for last year’s LSU-Texas A&M matchup to turn into a nightmare in Tiger Stadium.
LSU had gone into halftime with an 18-14 lead, but the second half belonged entirely to the Aggies. Texas A&M kept piling on points until the game turned into a 49-25 rout, and the scenes in the stands told the rest of the story.
Aggie fans celebrated while Tiger Stadium thinned out, and plenty of LSU supporters were already done with Brian Kelly, shouting “Fire Kelly” on the way out. Before 24 hours had passed, Kelly was gone.
A season that had looked promising had unraveled into disappointment and desolation.
“LSU’s dreams died here tonight,” ABC’s Chris Fowler said, sounding more like a mortician than a football announcer.
Eleven months later, LSU gets Texas A&M again in Tiger Stadium on Saturday night at 6:30 p.m. on ABC, thanks to the SEC’s new nine-game league schedule. The matchup arrives with both teams sitting at 2-1 overall and 0-1 in SEC play, which means the loser is likely staring at a damaging defeat.
LSU is trying to put last week behind it after a 32-24 loss at Ole Miss. That game carried its own strange weight, as Lane Kiffin’s return to Oxford became a full-blown event for Rebels fans and others eager to see him pay for leaving Ole Miss on the eve of the College Football Playoff.
Kiffin said Thursday on his weekly radio show that the setting was unlike anything he has seen.
“I think last week was different than any game we’ll every play,” Kiffin said. “You had a number of players, a lot of coaches who had been there for a long time and had great memories there. It was a unique setting, probably one that had probably never happened in sports, because even when you used to go back years ago there wasn’t a transfer portal.”
He also made clear how quickly the focus has to shift.
“With that, to make sure a loss doesn’t affect you into the next week you’ve got to get through it,” he said. “You’ve got to go through everything really hard on film, show them on Monday everything, then at 10 a.m.
Monday we move on to the new opponent. We don’t go backwards, except when you have a radio show and you’re asked questions about it and you have to go backwards.”
That’s the challenge now for LSU and Kiffin: move on, win, and keep the season alive. The only real revenge, as the source of all the hate and derision around the program suggests, is to keep winning. For LSU, that means staying in the College Football Playoff conversation.
There is at least some reason to think Texas A&M is not rolling into Baton Rouge in perfect shape. The Aggies were stunned 31-21 at home by Kentucky last week, and that result should keep Tiger fans from getting too comfortable about what happened a year ago.
Still, Texas A&M has shown enough to keep LSU on alert. After beating LSU last season, the Aggies went to Missouri and won 38-17, then had to rally from a 30-3 halftime hole to edge South Carolina 31-30. A win over Samford came next, followed by losses at Texas, 27-17, and at home to Miami, 10-3, in the first round of the CFP.
This season has already included more uneven play. Texas A&M opened with a win over Missouri State, then beat Arizona State 48-20 in a game packed with warning signs.
The Aggies were outgained 369-255, but they forced four turnovers and turned two of them into pick sixes. Then came the loss to Kentucky.
That leaves Texas A&M 1-3 in its last four FBS games, dating back to last season, with the South Carolina game also looking like one that should have gone the other way.
If LSU fans are tempted to take comfort in that, Marcel Reed is the reminder that nothing comes easy in this series. Reed has completed 59% of his passes in Power Four games dating back to Texas this past season, with four touchdown passes, seven interceptions and one touchdown run.
But against LSU, he has looked like a different player entirely. In 2024, he came off the bench and ran for three touchdowns in a 38-23 comeback win.
This past season, he put up 310 total yards and four total touchdowns in the Tigers’ loss.
That’s the version LSU cannot afford to see again if it wants Saturday night to be the start of something better.
In Other News...
LSU Suddenly Has A Whit Weeks Problem It Couldn't Afford
Whit Weeks afternoon against Texas A&M took an uneasy turn midway through the third quarter, when the LSU linebacker left with an apparent right ankle injury and later was seen in a walking boot and on crutches. It was a rough sight for a defense that leans heavily on his presence, especially in a game where every answer matters and every lost body changes the plan in a hurry.
Weeks has dealt with ankle injuries in previous seasons, so the scene naturally raised more concern than the average in-game exit. The Tigers do not yet know how severe this latest issue is, leaving LSU to wait and see whether one of its most important defenders will be available going forward. [Read more 🡒]
Lane Kiffin Just Gave LSU Fans Another Reason To Be Frustrated
Trinidad Chambliss gave LSU plenty to think about in Ole Miss 32-24 win, and Lane Kiffin had no trouble explaining why. The former LSU target carved up the Tigers through the air and added a late rushing score, looking every bit like the kind of dual-threat quarterback that can tilt a game when the pressure rises. For LSU fans still sorting through a frustrating result, hearing Kiffin praise the very player he once recruited to Oxford only adds another layer to the storyline.
Chambliss, a sixth-year senior, has already become one of those quarterbacks who seems to keep finding his way back into the biggest moments. He helped Ole Miss reach the playoffs before getting another year of eligibility through legal proceedings, and his latest outing only reinforced how difficult he can be to handle. For LSU, the loss stings on its own, but the broader reminder is hard to ignore: the Rebels had a quarterback in control, and Kiffin sounded like a coach who knew it all along. [Read more 🡒]
Texas A&M Just Got A Notable Vote Of Confidence At LSU
With LSU coming off a rough SEC opener and Texas A&M dealing with its own early setback, the upcoming matchup already had the feel of a measuring stick game. It got a little more interesting when SEC Network host Peter Burns publicly leaned toward the Aggies, pointing to Marcell Reeds past success against LSU and the Tigers offensive concerns as the reasons for his pick.
For LSU fans, the prediction lands as one more reminder that this is not just another conference game, especially with both teams trying to steady themselves after losses that shaped the first stretch of league play. Burns vote of confidence in Texas A&M adds an extra layer of intrigue, and it also puts a sharper spotlight on whether LSU can answer the questions that have followed its offense into this one. [Read more 🡒]