LSU got exactly what it came looking for against Texas A&M: control over Marcel Reed and a much cleaner night from the passing game.
That started with the defense, which made Reed look nothing like the quarterback who had already spent two games carving up the Tigers. Coming in, Reed had piled up 170 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns against LSU, plus 272 passing yards, two passing touchdowns, and two interceptions. The question was simple enough - could LSU keep him from doing damage on the ground?
The answer came quickly. Texas A&M’s first snap was a 12-yard Reed keeper, and after that the Tigers shut the door.
Reed finished with 10 rushing attempts and -13 rushing yards once sacks were included. Take the sacks out, and he only managed around 30 yards on the ground.
LSU forced him into the kind of night it wanted: one where he had to win from the pocket.
That didn’t go much better. Reed went 10-for-26, a 38.5% completion rate, for 106 yards with no touchdowns and one interception.
LSU didn’t just bother Reed - it unraveled the entire Aggie offense. Texas A&M left with its second loss of the season, outside the Top 25, and a season that feels like it’s already slipping away before October 1.
On the other side, the passing game finally showed up.
Sam Leavitt had been under the microscope because of how rushed the offense had looked through the first three weeks, and his comfort in the pocket was fair game for criticism. Saturday night changed that.
Leavitt, hamstring issue and all, was forced to stand in and deliver, and he did it with confidence. He couldn’t rely on his legs the way he usually can, but the result was a night full of sharp throws and explosive plays.
Jackson Harris was the big beneficiary. Leavitt hit him repeatedly, including the biggest throw of the game: a 57-yard bomb on fourth-and-1 in the third quarter that blew the game wide open and put A&M in a hole it was not equipped to climb out of.
Harris finished with 163 yards and two touchdowns. Winnie Watkins also quietly put together another strong night, going for 107 receiving yards.
Leavitt’s final line was strong across the board: 17 completions on 23 attempts for 312 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. That pick came after a defender tipped the ball and altered its path; without that play, Leavitt might have had a 70-yard touchdown. He also posted the highest completion percentage of his career against A&M at 74%.
There were still a couple of blemishes. LSU went just 4-of-12 on third down, a 33% success rate that kept the game from becoming even more lopsided.
And the missed 24-yard field goal was one of those mistakes that can’t be brushed off. The Tigers were fortunate it didn’t matter in this one, but missed points like that are the kind you can’t afford to leave on the field.
The biggest concern, though, was the injury list.
Leavitt was already limited by a left hamstring injury, which may have been part of why he was so effective from the pocket and less able to improvise outside of it. LSU will be hoping that doesn’t linger, especially with a road game against Kentucky next up.
Then came the defensive injuries, and those hit much harder. Charles Ross is out for the year with an ACL injury, making this the seventh season-ending injury for LSU.
Right after Ross went down, Whit Weeks also left with an injury that could affect the rest of his season. Weeks suffered a fractured right fibula on Saturday and had surgery Monday morning.
There is optimism around his camp that he could return for the Alabama game on November 7, but nothing has been officially determined yet.
For two straight weeks, LSU has watched both No. 7s leave the field in the third quarter on crutches. That’s not the kind of pattern anyone wants to see, especially with Weeks dealing with another leg injury after battling ankle issues on the same leg in each of the previous two seasons. He had been having a strong year, and the hope now is simply that he recovers fully, whenever that return might come.
In Other News...
LSU Just Turned One Huge Concern Into Real SEC Hope
After the disappointment against Ole Miss, LSU needed a response that looked and felt different, and Saturdays 35-6 rout of Texas A&M delivered exactly that. The Tigers moved the ball at will, piling up more than 500 yards on offense, with quarterback Sam Leavitt throwing for over 300 yards and two touchdowns while the defense set the tone by overwhelming the Aggies up front.
The broader picture matters even more for a team trying to keep its SEC path alive under Lane Kiffin. LSU held Texas A&M to fewer than 200 total yards and repeatedly disrupted the rhythm of the game with sacks and turnovers, a level of control that had been missing in the loss to Ole Miss. Whether it proves to be the reset this season needed will depend on what comes next, but this was the kind of complete performance that can change the conversation quickly. [Read more 🡒]
Ole Miss Just Got An Early Playoff Path Fans Will Study
After four weeks of the college football season, ESPN analysts Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach reshuffled their College Football Playoff and bowl projections, and the SEC remains as crowded as ever in their latest forecast. Their updated outlook has 13 league teams headed to postseason play, with only South Carolina, Vanderbilt and Arkansas left out, underscoring just how little margin there is for anyone trying to climb into the top tier of the conference race.
For LSU, those projections are the kind of thing fans around Baton Rouge will study closely because they help sketch out not just the Tigers own path, but the playoff lane that could open or tighten around them as the season goes on. The full breakdown also maps out projected bowl destinations and playoff matchups for every SEC team, giving a fresh snapshot of where LSU stands in a league where one good stretch can change everything and one bad Saturday can send the conversation in a different direction. [Read more 🡒]
LSU May Have Found A New Defensive Difference Maker
LSU left College Station with plenty of individual performances worth sorting through, but the defensive emergence of true freshman Deuce Geralds stands out as the kind of development that can change the feel of a front seven. After turning in a sack and two tackles for loss against Texas A&M, Geralds was named overall Game MVP and also picked up SEC Freshman of the Week honors, a strong sign that the Tigers may have another disruptive piece to work with as the season moves deeper into conference play.
Geralds was hardly the only Tiger making noise on that side of the ball. Tamarcus Cooley added two tackles, a sack and an interception, while Princewill Umanmielen kept his own pressure streak going with another sack to reach seven on the season. LSUs defense has been looking for a player who can consistently tilt a game, and after this outing, Geralds has at least made himself part of that conversation. [Read more 🡒]