Sam Leavitt didn’t look like the same quarterback LSU had been getting early in 2026, and that was exactly the point against Texas A&M.
The scrambling that defined his first three games was mostly gone Saturday. After logging more than 10 carries and at least one rushing touchdown in each of LSU’s opening three outings, Leavitt ran only four times against the Aggies.
That shift, though, wasn’t just a change in style. Leavitt and head coach Lane Kiffin said after the game that the quarterback was working through a minor hamstring injury.
Kiffin said that limitation helped force Leavitt to settle in and work from the pocket.
"When you can't run at all, you don't take off early," Kiffin said. "Regardless, he threw the ball accurate. He made some really good throws."
Leavitt saw it the same way. For him, getting nicked up tends to simplify things and keep his focus on distributing the ball.
"I've gotten hurt like week four every single year," Leavitt said. "Not season-ending injuries by any means, but just a little, a little something and keep me in the pocket.”
Kiffin called him “gutsy” against Texas A&M, and the numbers backed that up. Leavitt finished 17 of 23 for 312 yards and two passing touchdowns, showing he could do far more than tuck the ball and escape.
The improvement wasn’t just on his shoulders, either. Kiffin said the performance reflected better play across the offense, and Leavitt pointed to the line in front of him as part of that growth.
"I told the O-line, I might need a little bit more time back there because I'm not going to be able to run around and make any plays," Leavitt said. "They made it easy for me."
After the injury, he completed 9 of 11 passes, including two huge throws to Jackson Harris. PFF credited him with three “big-time throws” and zero “turnover-worthy plays,” even though one of his passes was intercepted on a tip by an Aggie.
There’s still a bigger question for LSU moving forward: how to keep shifting Leavitt’s mindset from run first to pass first. But the Texas A&M game should leave him with plenty of confidence in what he can do as a thrower.
LSU’s ground game helped make the whole thing work. The Tigers ran for 194 yards on 38 carries, averaging 5.1 yards per attempt and scoring three rushing touchdowns. Two of those scores came from Landen Clark, who handled red-zone and late-game duty for Leavitt.
That running production has been there all season. LSU is averaging 205.5 rushing yards per game, which ranks No. 29 in the country.
And once the run game started forcing attention, the passing game opened up. Leavitt went 6 for 8 on throws traveling more than 15 yards downfield, and those completions accounted for 205 passing yards.
If LSU keeps running the ball like this and the offensive line continues to hold up, the Tigers can keep building Leavitt’s confidence as a downfield passer and stretch defenses whenever they want.
That kind of progress matters, especially with LSU’s toughest stretch still ahead.
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 🡒]