Bye Bye LSU
We didn’t run up the score like I was hoping, but I’ll take 20-7 anytime. Texas A&M vs LSU recap and reaction. By: The Hammer
“As long as I remember, the rain's been comin' down, clouds of mystery pourin', confusion on the ground.” Hard to find a more fitting song than Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Who’ll Stop the Rain” to describe last night’s Texas A&M vs LSU game. The College Station sky dumped all night and the offenses could not find a rhythm. A lot of rain and confusion on the field.
Before I jump into the breakdown, let’s set the record straight. Forget what the national media, talking heads, or supposed “experts” say - this was a great win. Texas A&M is 2-7 against LSU since joining the SEC, and one of those wins was last night. A&M has now won two of the last three meetings, making Jimbo Fisher 2-1 against Coach O and the Tigers. Of course it was sloppy offensively, but we won and we won convincingly. The Aggies did not trail at all last night and were never in danger of losing. LSU’s offense got demolished all night. So forget the stupid “style points” argument from talking heads and appreciate a wire to wire, double digit win against your biggest conference rival and defending national champions, LSU.
Jimbo KO’s Coach O and LSU (yes I know we are terrible at photoshop)
That being said, this was a terrible game for Kellen Mond and the Aggie offense. I think it was a combination of three things that led to the poor performance - rust, weather, and offensive line play. First off, A&M had not played a game since November 7th. It’s understandable that they were rusty, especially offensively. Very hard to keep that momentum going after so long off, and considering the inconsistent practice schedule with players missing due to COVID-19 contact tracing. Think of how often teams look sluggish offensively in bowl games after a couple weeks off. It happens all the time, and those bowl games are played with normal practice and preparation schedules. So even though I don’t want to use that as an excuse, and Jimbo won’t, it’s not surprising that the offense was a bit off.
Secondly, the weather made it tough. Aggie receivers dropped balls and Kellen’s throws were erratic all night. I think some of that was just Kellen being Kellen since he’s been inconsistent throughout his career. But certainly some of that was due to the heavy rain. If the weather is good, I think Kellen still has a rough game but not that rough. LSU quarterback’s were inaccurate all night as well so it’s clear the weather was impacting the passing game for everyone.
Lastly, this may have been the offensive line’s worst game of the year last night. That is not to say they played really badly because they didn’t, but they have set a very high standard with their play this year and they didn’t quite meet it last night. The offensive line was penalized more than usual and LSU was able to pressure Kellen more than any other team this season. Again, not an excuse to play like he did, but you could tell it was affecting him. The offensive line also struggled to get a push in the run game. Outside of Spiller’s 52-yard touchdown scamper in the first half, LSU kept the run game under wraps. If you remove that 52 yard run, the Aggies only averaged 3.06 yards per carry on the night. We struggled to get solid yardage on early downs and Kellen was not able to convert third and longs.
Kellen has proven this season he can be really good and efficient with great protection and a great run game. Without those things, he has been inconsistent during his entire career and that’s what we saw last night. He didn't have the perfect support around him and he was not able to rise up and carry the team. But I’m not concerned moving forward. I think the offense will regain its footing once they can shake off some of the rust and it’s not a total downpour. I expect this unit to look much better against Auburn next week.
Give some credit to LSU defense as well. They challenged the A&M wide receivers to beat man coverage and we didn’t do it. The return of All American cornerback Derek Stingley certainly helped their cause but LSU came in with a solid game plan: stop the run and make Kellen and the receivers beat our defensive backs one on one. They got a lot of help from the weather, but the plan worked all night. They bottled up the Aggie running game for the most part and had good, tight coverage. The few times Aggie receivers got some separation, Kellen was either inaccurate or the wideouts would drop the pass. For as poor as the LSU defense has been all year, they came to play last night.
Photo: Michael Miller, The Eagle
How about that Aggie defense though!? Sorry to bury the lead here but that is the story of the game. The LSU offense has been good this season. The team has obviously struggled overall but they have been putting up yards and points all season. Not last night though. The Bayou Bengals came into this game averaging 451.5 yards and 34.3 points per game. The Aggies defense held them to just 267 yards of total offense and a measly 7 points from a garbage time touchdown with under one minute remaining in the game. The front seven was on fire. LSU gained just 36 yards rushing on 25 carries, an average of 1.4 yards per carry. Aggie defensive lineman, linebackers and even defensive backs were in the backfield all night totaling three sacks, five tackles for loss, and nine quarterback hurries.
Jimbo has recruited some monsters on the defensive line and it’s showing. Demarvin Leal deserves a shout out because he played lights out. The entire defensive line was unblockable. Add in the stellar linebacker play from Johnson, Hansford and Andre White Jr. and this front seven looks like the best in the conference. Buddy Johnson’s pick six late in the third quarter was a thing of beauty. Pressure in the face of Finley forced an inaccurate throw and Johnson sat in zone coverage, reading the quarterback’s eyes and took advantage of a bad pass. I said in the preview that if we could get pressure on Finley, he would make mistakes. That came to fruition as the true freshman was pressured all night and threw two interceptions.
Photo: Sam Craft, AP Photo. Andre White Jr sacks LSU’s Max Johnson.
As Buddy Johnson said in the post game press conference, defense wins championships. And A&M has a championship defense right now. A lot to improve on offensively but we have seen how good they can be. I think they’ll get back to that level before the end of the year. Hopefully they find their groove next week against Auburn. Right now the Aggies just need to focus on the next game and what they can control. I trust Jimbo to keep this team locked in and focused on the task at hand.The narrative spewing from the national media is absurd and meaningless. Let them try to discredit us as much as they want, who cares. Win out, finish 9-1 and let the chips fall where they may.
Time to #BTHOAuburn
