After last week’s home loss to Alabama, LSU has no room left for margin. The Tigers are staring at win-or-go-home football the rest of the way, and the task doesn’t get any friendlier with No. 6 Texas coming to Baton Rouge on Saturday.
LSU slid to No. 21 after the 31-13 loss to the Crimson Tide, but the Longhorns arriving with a top-six ranking gives the Tigers a shot at the kind of win they badly need. They still haven’t landed a marquee victory, and a win over Texas would go a long way for a playoff push that is hanging by a thread. Even with three losses, most people still believe LSU can reach the College Football Playoff if it wins out.
That path starts with a handful of matchups that could swing the night.
The first one is on the edge, where Weston Davis will be dealing with Colin Simmons. Simmons is expected back Saturday after missing the last two games with a high ankle sprain, and he wasn’t listed on the injury report. Davis, meanwhile, is also working back from injury after leaving the Alabama game in a boot and on crutches, though he is listed as probable.
Simmons has been one of the SEC’s most disruptive defenders all season. He leads the league with 10.5 sacks and 16 tackles for loss, and he’s done that despite missing the past two and a half games.
That kind of production tells you just how far ahead he was. He’s a problem who can wreck an offense on his own.
Because Simmons does most of his damage off the right edge, Davis is the one who will have to slow him down. That’s a tough ask after Davis graded out at 51.3 in pass blocking against Alabama before the injury.
His season mark sits at 61.4, but the rough outings have shown up against quality rushers. His low point came against Ole Miss, when he posted a 37.1 and much of the night was a mess for Sam Leavitt.
LSU may need to give Davis help with chips from tight ends and running backs, along with double teams.
Another key battle comes with Arch Manning and LSU’s linebackers. Manning’s official rushing total is 91 yards, but that number is heavily shaped by the 27 sacks he’s absorbed. In college football, sack yardage counts against a quarterback’s rushing stats.
Without those sacks, Manning has roughly 272 rushing yards. That doesn’t make him a run-first quarterback, but it does show he can hurt a defense with his legs when he needs to. He wants to throw first, but he’s athletic enough to take off.
This will be LSU’s third straight game dealing with a quarterback who can move. The Tigers handled Byrum Brown well before the bye week, then were mostly solid against Keelon Russell last week.
Still, one scramble changed everything. After LSU had grabbed its first lead at 13-10, Alabama drove into the red zone and faced a 3rd and 9.
LSU had a chance to force a field goal, but Russell escaped for 10 yards, moved the chains, and set up a first-and-goal before the touchdown. The game turned from there.
Outside of that play, LSU held him to 25 rushing yards.
Whit Weeks is questionable, so Blake Baker’s defense may or may not get a boost there. Either way, TJ Dottery and Dahvon Keys have to be sharp if LSU wants to keep Manning from creating a drive with his legs.
The final matchup to watch is on the perimeter, where LSU’s cornerbacks will see Cam Coleman. Whether it’s PJ Woodland or DJ Pickett who gets the assignment, this is the kind of one-on-one that can shape a game.
Coleman is listed at 6-foot-3, 204 pounds and brings a big target with strong hands. He’s comfortable winning through contact and making contested catches even when coverage is tight. Woodland and Pickett are both physical corners, which makes this an interesting fit.
Woodland has often tracked opposing No. 1 receivers this season, but Coleman’s size raises the possibility that Pickett could be the one matched up with him. At 6-foot-5, Pickett has the length to match up with a receiver like Coleman.
Coleman has 23 catches for 409 yards and seven touchdowns in the eight games he’s played. He missed Missouri last week with a shoulder injury, but he is not listed on the injury report and is expected to play.
In Other News...
Texas Hits Unexpected Travel Snag Right Before LSU Showdown
Texas ran into an unexpected headache on the way to Baton Rouge, with the Longhorns among several college football teams caught up in a nationwide ground stop ordered by the Federal Aviation Administration on Nov. 13. The issue stemmed from air traffic control communications problems at facilities across the country, creating travel delays at the worst possible time for a team headed into a high-profile matchup with LSU.
For LSU fans, the immediate question is whether the disruption will linger long enough to affect the rhythm of the weekend. It is still unclear how long the delays will last or whether they will ripple into the scheduled games, but any travel snag this close to kickoff adds another layer of uncertainty to a meeting that already had plenty of attention on it. [Read more 🡒]
Ed Orgeron Shares Frightening Health Update Before LSUs Huge Night
Ed Orgerons latest health scare is a sobering reminder of how quickly things can turn, even for a coach who has spent years around the grind of college football. The former LSU head coach revealed that a leg infection escalated into life-threatening sepsis and sent him to intensive care for seven days, a frightening stretch that put his recovery far ahead of any football conversation.
For LSU fans, the timing lands in the middle of a big week, with the Tigers preparing for a marquee matchup against Texas and plenty of attention on the little things that can swing a game. Special teams and intangibles are part of the discussion, along with the usual round of weekly predictions, but Orgerons update adds a more personal, human note to the buildup around a program that still feels his imprint. [Read more 🡒]
LSU Pass Rusher Is Now At Center Of A Messy Ole Miss Fight
Princewill Umanmielens move to LSU has now spilled into a legal fight that reaches well beyond the transfer portal. The pass rusher is contesting a revenue-sharing contract he signed with Ole Miss for the 2026 season, saying he was under undue pressure from Rebels coaches before he left for Baton Rouge. Ole Miss, meanwhile, is pursuing him for $550,000 plus legal fees tied to the buyout, turning what looked like a straightforward transfer into a messy dispute over how binding these new-era agreements really are.
Umanmielens attorney is arguing the damages sought are unreasonable and that he may not have had the legal capacity to enter the contract in the first place. Ole Miss has also filed a similar suit against former Rebel Devin Harper, while LSU has taken the position that it is not on the hook for either buyout because it was not a party to the contracts. For LSU, the issue is less about the roster fit than the backdrop around one of its newest pass rushers, and it is still unclear how far this fight will go before it is sorted out. [Read more 🡒]