LSU’s response to adversity was loud, complete, and impossible to ignore.
After the loss to Ole Miss, the Tigers came out and took apart Texas A&M in a 35-6 win that never felt close. LSU controlled the game from the opening stretch to the final whistle, putting together what looked like its sharpest, most balanced performance of the season.
The box score tells the story. LSU piled up 506 total yards, with 312 coming through the air and 194 on the ground. At the same time, the defense squeezed Texas A&M into under 200 total yards and kept the Aggies out of the end zone all night.
Quarterback Sam Leavitt looked more and more settled in Lane Kiffin’s offense, and that showed in the way LSU attacked Texas A&M’s defense. Leavitt threw for over 300 yards and two touchdowns, finished with more than 70 percent completions, and continued shaking off the rust after missing much of the offseason while rehabbing an injury.
The help around him was there, too. LSU’s offensive line didn’t allow a sack, the run game kept churning out yards, and the Tigers finished with 194 rushing yards and a touchdown on the ground.
On the perimeter, Jackson Harris and Winston Watkins Jr. were a problem Texas A&M couldn’t solve. The two wideouts combined for 11 catches, 270 yards, and a pair of touchdowns.
Then there was the defense, which looked every bit as controlling as the offense. Blake Baker’s unit harassed Marcel Reed from start to finish, piling up four sacks and seven tackles for loss while holding Texas A&M’s rushing attack under 100 yards.
Reed never found a rhythm. He finished with 106 passing yards, no touchdowns, one interception, and completed just 38 percent of his throws. LSU’s secondary added four pass deflections to go with the takeaway.
It’s still early, and LSU’s schedule leaves little room to relax. Five of its eight remaining games are against ranked opponents, so there will be plenty of chances to find out exactly how far this team can go in the SEC and the College Football Playoff conversation.
But if LSU keeps playing anywhere close to the way it did against Texas A&M, the rest of college football will have to pay attention to what’s building in Baton Rouge.
In Other News...
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 🡒]
Florida Is Suddenly Right In The Middle Of A Five-Star WR Fight
The race for Easton Royal is getting tighter by the week, and Florida has forced its way into the conversation for one of the nations top 2027 wide receiver recruits. Royal is already committed to Texas, but he has also taken official visits to Florida, LSU and Ole Miss, a sign that his recruitment is far from settled despite that pledge.
Royal said he can see himself playing at Florida and is close to making a decision, which only raises the stakes for the SEC schools still pushing hard. For LSU, that means the Tigers remain in the middle of a crowded battle for a receiver who has kept his options open and shown a willingness to keep looking even after his commitment to the Longhorns. [Read more 🡒]