LSU answered its setback with a statement.
A week after stumbling in one of the toughest road environments it will see all season, the Tigers returned to Tiger Stadium and rolled past Texas A&M 35-6, a much-needed bounce-back that showed both resilience and the strain still hanging over the offense. Head coach Lane Kiffin had his group ready to flush the loss and move on fast, and LSU did exactly that.
The biggest spark came from the passing game, where the Tigers found new answers with Trey’Dez Green sidelined after last Saturday’s game against Ole Miss. Jackson Harris stepped into the opening and made it loud.
On a fourth-and-1 early in the second half with LSU up 11, the Tigers lined up like they were about to pound the ball, then Sam Leavitt pulled back and hit Harris, who had nothing but open field in front of him. The result was a 57-yard touchdown.
“My heart got caught beating a little bit when they called it because I knew it was gonna work, and we were repping it all week,” Harris said.
Harris kept piling up explosive plays from there. He came into the game with three receptions of 15-plus yards and added four more in the first half alone against Texas A&M.
His 40-yard grab in the third quarter had Kiffin sprinting down the sideline, and he later hauled in a 16-yard touchdown catch in the back of the end zone. Harris finished with 6 catches for 163 yards.
“A lot of those plays were kind of similar. You know, play action, Trey’Dez type of plays,” Kiffin said.
Winston Watkins Jr. kept the chains moving too. He entered Saturday as LSU’s leader in receptions and the only pass-catcher outside Green with 200 yards, and he backed that up against the Aggies with another busy afternoon.
Watkins had four plays of 15 yards or more, finished with 5 catches for 107 yards, and showed the kind of steady reliability this offense needs. He also took a hard hit to the head in the third quarter but did not need to go to the locker room.
Before the game, Harris said Jarvis Landry addressed the receivers on Friday and delivered a message that landed.
“Jarvis Landry, he came to talk to us [Friday],” Harris said. “He was just like, ‘The season and this offense and this team is gonna come down to us making plays.’ There’s a standard here, and it’s on the wall in the receiver room, like Ja’Marr Chase, Justin Jefferson, all them, you know.
“I think we took that to heart,” he continued.
LSU’s defense had its own impact, and a big part of that came from how the safeties were deployed. Defensive coordinator Blake Baker stayed at LSU through the coaching change because he wanted a shot at a national championship this year, despite other head-coaching opportunities, and his flexibility has become one of the clearest strengths on the staff.
That showed again against Texas A&M, even with LSU missing Dashawn Spears, its main blitzing safety. The Tigers are averaging one sack a game from the safety group this season, and that trend held up against Ole Miss and the Aggies. Tamarcus Cooley recorded a sack that helped force a punt and set up an LSU touchdown, then added an interception in the fourth quarter.
Ty Benefield shifted into the STAR role after Spears’ season-ending injury, letting him work near the front while still helping in coverage when the Tigers expected the ball to go up. Kiffin pointed to that move as a key adjustment.
“We made a unique move with Dashawn being out,” Kiffin said. “We moved Ty and played him in that spot the whole game [for] those perimeter runs and quarterback scrambles. That’s a really great tackler right there in rerouting perimeter plays and stuff.”
Jhase Thomas also made his first career start at ROVER, a role that asks a safety to help in both coverage and run support. He had been one of the bright spots of the fall and nearly won the starting job opposite Benefield.
The approach helped LSU keep Marcel Reed uncomfortable, even if Texas A&M’s quarterback was not facing a perfect situation to begin with. Benefield said the uncertainty created by the safeties mattered.
“If you make somebody just go back there and see ghosts in coverage, it makes it a lot easier,” Benefield said.
Still, LSU’s offense remains a concern when the game starts. The Tigers have opened slowly over the last two weeks, against Ole Miss and Texas A&M, their only ranked opponents so far, and the common thread has been too many three-and-outs. Ole Miss ran more plays than LSU, and Texas A&M did the same in the first half on Saturday.
That matters because LSU’s defense is built on speed and pressure, and it can only keep that edge if the offense gives it room to breathe. Trinidad Chambliss had success for Ole Miss because the Tigers couldn’t keep chasing him, and Reed found similar benefits early.
The schedule isn’t getting easier. Auburn, Alabama, Texas and Tennessee are still ahead, and Alabama quarterback Keelon Russell is part of what makes that stretch so dangerous. LSU has not scored on an opening drive yet, and if that trend keeps going - especially with injuries still piling up - the defense could be forced to carry too much again down the stretch.
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Lane Kiffin Sends LSU Message After Silencing A Major Concern
LSUs 35-6 win over No. 23 Texas A&M did more than keep the Tigers rolling, it answered a question that had been hanging over the program. The No. 10 Tigers controlled the game in total yards and leaned on a defense that dictated the tempo from the start, giving the kind of complete performance that has been hard to miss in a crowded SEC race.
Lane Kiffin had plenty to point to afterward, from the defensive effort to Sam Leavitts play while dealing with injury and Jackson Harris breakout as a Hawaii transfer. The next stop is a more local one, with McNeese coming to Baton Rouge, but LSU will still be carrying the bigger picture: whether this was a one-night statement or the start of something sturdier. [Read more 🡒]
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At the top, Texas stayed No. 1 after surviving a tight one against Tennessee, while other teams moved based on how the weekend played out. For LSU, the placement is the kind of early-season reminder that style points and perception can matter just as much as the win column, and it leaves the Tigers with a little more to prove as the schedule rolls on. [Read more 🡒]
Johnny Manziel Twists The Knife After LSU Exposes Texas A&M Again
LSUs latest win over Texas A&M only added to the frustration around a rivalry that has not been kind to the Aggies in SEC play. The loss dropped Texas A&M to 2-2 and came after another uneven outing from quarterback Marcel Reed, who finished 10 of 26 for 106 yards with no touchdowns and one interception. For LSU fans, it was another night of seeing the Tigers expose familiar problems.
Johnny Manziel, the former Aggies quarterback, wasted little time weighing in on social media after the game. His comments only sharpened the attention on Texas A&Ms early-season stumble and the pressure now building around a team trying to steady itself before the SEC schedule gets any rougher. [Read more 🡒]