Texas A&M walked into Tiger Stadium with everything lined up for a statement night and walked out with a 35-6 loss that exposed just how much still needs tightening up. LSU, meanwhile, grabbed the kind of win that keeps its College Football Playoff hopes alive.
The Aggies are now 2-2, and the damage showed up everywhere - in the secondary, on third down, in the penalty count, and in the run game.
The biggest early problem was explosive plays. A&M’s defense simply could not stop LSU from hitting chunk gains in the first half, and seven notable plays swung momentum toward the Tigers.
Six of those came through quarterback Sam Leavitt finding his receivers downfield, with Winston Watkins and Jackson Harris doing the heavy lifting. Harris had four big catches, Watkins had the other four, and the damage came in waves: 19 yards, 15 yards, then later 16, 26, 35 and 36 yards.
That trend carried into the opening drive of the third quarter. A&M had LSU in a fourth-and-one, but Leavitt launched a 43 to Jackson Harris for a 57-yard catch-and-run that turned the field in a hurry. LSU added another pair of 15- and 36-yard passes, along with a 16- and 57-yard gain, and even got an 18-yard rush from running back Dilin Jones.
Texas A&M also never found much rhythm on third down. At halftime, the Aggies were 3-of-8 and LSU was 2-of-6, but the final numbers told the fuller story for A&M: 4 conversions on 15 attempts.
Marcel Reed spent much of the night under pressure and had to rely on his legs more than the Aggies wanted. He missed wide receiver Mario Craver on the opening drive, then watched Rueben Owens drop a dump-off on another third-down chance.
Reed later scrambled for five yards but still came up short of the sticks. In the red zone, A&M faced a third-and-goal, but Reed overthrew Aaron Gregory and settled for a David Olano field goal.
The flags hurt, too. By halftime, Mike Elko’s team had already been charged with four accepted penalties for 35 yards. The list included an ineligible man downfield call that Micah Riley wanted erased, a false start by Trovon Baugh, a pass interference on Riley, and a holding call on Lamont Rogers.
Those penalties also wiped out two completed passes from Reed - a 15-yard catch by Isiaah Horton and a 23-yard grab by Kelshaun Johnson - if the calls had not stood.
The protection eventually cracked as well. After last week’s game against Kentucky, when A&M didn’t allow a sack, the line looked to be settling in.
That was not the case here. LSU got to Reed in the second quarter and kept squeezing the pocket from there, holding the Aggies scoreless in the first half.
The Tigers dropped Reed for the third time on a second-and-four at the A&M 34 on LSU’s first drive of the third quarter, and on the next series A&M went for it on fourth down and turned it over on downs. The biggest sack of the night came with a 17-yard loss.
The ground game never recovered either. A&M entered the fourth quarter with only 62 rushing yards on 27 carries and finished with 91.
Owens led the way with 11 carries for 62 yards, while freshman Carsyn Baker added 15 yards. KJ Edwards was limited, apparently because of his health status, and Craver even logged a carry.
After putting up 187 rushing yards in Week 3, the Aggies saw that number fall sharply against LSU. Against a defense that played fast and physical, A&M had few answers.
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Marcel Reeds uneven performance only added to the frustration, but Elko said he is not changing the starting quarterback for now. For a fan base already uneasy about the early conference skid, the bigger concern may be how many areas need fixing at once, from protection and execution on offense to a defense that could not generate pressure or keep LSU from piling up passing yards. [Read more 🡒]