LSU is back in Tiger Stadium on Saturday night, and Lane Kiffin is already treating Texas A&M like a problem that needs the full game plan, not a bounce-back opportunity.
No. 10 LSU, sitting at 2-1 overall and 0-1 in the Southeastern Conference, will host No.
23 Texas A&M, also 2-1 and 0-1, at 6:30 p.m. The matchup comes with a strange bit of history attached: it will be the first time since 1974 and 1975 that the teams have met in Baton Rouge in consecutive seasons.
Kiffin couldn’t resist taking a shot at the scheduling setup during Wednesday’s SEC coaches teleconference.
“These are the scheduling quirks that come with our awesome move to nine games that has sure looked so great here lately,” LSU coach Lane Kiffin said sarcastically during the SEC coaches teleconference on Wednesday.
The Aggies left a mark in this series last year, beating LSU 49-25 with a 35-7 second-half surge that helped trigger the firing of Brian Kelly. Marcel Reed was central to that win, just as he was in Texas A&M’s 38-23 victory over LSU in 2024. Across those two games, Reed went 14-of-23 for 272 passing yards, rushed for 170 yards and accounted for seven touchdowns.
That dual-threat ability is exactly the sort of thing LSU’s defense has had trouble handling, and Kiffin knows it.
“I think he’s a really dynamic player, and they’re really hard to prepare for, guys like this,” Kiffin said.
He added that Reed was a quarterback he recruited while at Ole Miss, and that the kind of mobile passers Reed represents shaped how he thinks about offense. Kiffin pointed to quarterbacks such as Sam Leavitt, Trinidad Chambliss and Jaxson Dart as examples of players who create headaches for defenses, especially on third down.
Texas A&M has plenty of its own third-down reputation to defend. Mike Elko’s defense was the nation’s best at getting off the field last season, allowing just 38 conversions on 166 tries, a 22.89% rate. Through three games this season, the Aggies are still near the top at No. 7 nationally in opponent third-down conversion rate, giving up 7 conversions on 31 chances for 22.58%.
That number took a hit in last week’s 31-21 loss to Kentucky, when three of the Wildcats’ seven successful third downs came against the Aggies. Elko called it one of the worst defensive games of his tenure at Texas A&M after Kentucky piled up 408 yards and went three-and-out only three times in nine possessions that didn’t end the half or game.
Kiffin still expects the Aggies to bring their best.
“He’s a defensive mastermind and gives people a lot of problems, and they had one bad half last week,” Kiffin said. “That doesn’t define who the team is, and it’s going to be a big challenge for us, one that we’re excited about.”
For LSU, the pressure point has been pass protection. Jaxson Dart, the Arizona State transfer, has been under duress on 34.2% of his dropbacks and has been sacked 10 times through three games, according to Pro Football Focus. Kiffin said Dart acknowledged he needed to be better in the loss to Ole Miss, but he also made it clear the quarterback has not been operating in ideal conditions.
“Those games happen, and a lot of factors go into that,” Kiffin said, “We didn’t protect really well around him, and crowd noise and music being played all the way through the snap when the center’s hand is on the ball again and again, those will help you struggle at quarterback and false start. There’s a lot of things to improve on around him, and he’ll do better and play better this week.”
Kiffin said LSU is eager to get back on the field and clean up the missed chances that cost it last week. After digging out of a 17-point halftime hole, he said both sides of the offense had openings to take control, and neither capitalized.
Elko, for his part, still had praise for LSU despite the setback.
“They showed a lot of fight. They’re extremely talented on both sides of the football,” he said during the teleconference.
With both teams at 2-1 and eight SEC games still ahead, Saturday has the feel of an important early test for both programs. Kiffin, though, brushed off the idea that the moment changes anything about how LSU should approach it.
“That doesn’t matter,” he said. “That’s got nothing to do with preparation and performing well and all the things that we talk about all the time: the process within the days and the week versus the outcome.”
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