LSU got the kind of response it needed against Texas A&M, and the Pro Football Focus grades back up what showed on the field: there were real bright spots, but also a few spots the staff still has to clean up.
The Tigers’ most explosive offensive performance came from Jackson Harris, who earned a 92.0 grade and delivered the breakout game LSU had been waiting for. Harris finished with six catches for 163 yards and two touchdowns, with a third score wiped away.
Just as important, the drop issue that had followed him early in the season disappeared against the Aggies. He had entered the game with two drops over the first three weeks after posting a 5.8% drop rate last season at Hawai’i, but this time he came through cleanly and looked like the portal playmaker LSU expected.
On defense, Tamarcus Cooley was the highest-graded Tiger at 87.7, and his impact showed up all over the field. Pro Football Focus listed Michael Turner Jr. at 94.2, but he played only four snaps and grabbed an interception in that short stretch, a reminder that LSU’s depth is showing up too.
Cooley, meanwhile, handled a bigger workload and filled multiple roles as LSU continues sorting out life after Dashawn Spears. He worked in the box, at free safety and in the slot, was targeted once in coverage and came away with the interception.
He added three tackles, a sack and did not miss a tackle.
Not everything clicked on the offensive side. Jayce Brown posted the lowest grade there at 45.9, and the numbers tell the story of a player still searching for his place in the plan.
Through four weeks, Brown has four catches for 47 yards, despite playing 142 snaps and drawing just eight targets. The production has lagged behind the opportunity, and his lone chance against Texas A&M ended with a dropped touchdown, a costly miss that won’t help his case.
Defensively, Dylan Carpenter finished with the lowest grade at 56.5, though even that line comes with some context. He still generated five pressures, but a missed tackle in only three attempts dragged down his overall mark.
In Other News...
LSUs Poll Position After That Win Says Plenty About The Tigers
LSUs latest surge still came with a familiar caveat in the polls, even after a convincing 35-6 win over Texas A&M. The Tigers held at No. 11 in the Coaches Poll and slipped one spot to No. 11 in the AP Top 25, a ranking that says as much about the national crowdedness around them as it does about their own performance. Floridas climb to No. 8 after beating Ole Miss was one of the bigger shifts near the top, but LSUs place remained a reminder that one big win does not always bring a corresponding leap.
For LSU, the more interesting part may be how little room there is left for error if the Tigers want the respect that usually comes with a late-season push. The AP list and the coaches version both showed movement elsewhere, with teams dropping out and others collecting votes, but LSU stayed planted just outside the top tier. In a week when some programs rose sharply and others faded from view, the Tigers were left in the middle, good enough to stay in the conversation but still waiting for the kind of change in perception that only comes with another statement win. [Read more 🡒]
LSUs SEC Push Suddenly Depends On How Far These Backups Can Go
After bouncing back with a win over Texas A&M in Week 4, LSU enters the heart of SEC play with a very different kind of test ahead of it. The Tigers are trying to keep momentum going after the loss to Ole Miss, but the bigger issue now is survival depth, with injuries thinning out key spots across the roster and forcing the next wave of players into the spotlight.
That has pushed backups like Landen Clark, Jackson Harris, Davhon Keys and Tamarcus Cooley into more important roles than LSU likely planned this early in the season. With linebacker Whit Weeks, quarterback Sam Leavitt, wide receiver Phillip Wright III, tight end TreyDez Green, linebacker Charles Ross II and safety Dashawn Spears all on the injury list, the Tigers push through the SEC may come down to how steady those reserve pieces can be while the staff waits for help to return. [Read more 🡒]
Dukes Unbeaten Start Has Turned The AP Poll Into A Debate
The Week 5 AP Poll has already stirred the usual debate around college footballs top 25, and LSU is part of the broader conversation about which teams are being properly rewarded for what they have done on the field. Alongside Texas Tech, Wisconsin, Duke and North Dakota State, the Tigers are being held up in a larger argument over whether recent performance is matching poll placement, especially when some teams keep winning while others cling to spots that seem harder to defend.
For LSU fans, it is the kind of ranking talk that lingers because it shapes how a season is framed long before the postseason picture comes into focus. The point of the discussion is not an official correction or a fresh ballot reveal, but the growing sense that the AP rankings are inviting more questions than answers, and that a few teams continue to look more impressive on Saturdays than they do on paper. [Read more 🡒]