COLLEGE STATION, Texas — The LSU football team put together its first complete game of the season, in its last, to catapult themselves to a 23-17 victory against Texas A&M.
The Tigers (8-4, 4-4 Southeastern Conference) abused the Aggies’ (7-5, 3-5 SEC) defense, gaining 491 yards of total offense, with 384 of those yards coming on the ground.
“I thought the offensive coordinator Cam Cameron did a nice job with some of the different wrinkles on offense and I thought that certainly helped things,” said LSU coach Les Miles.
The Tigers were sparked by a highlight-reel run by freshman running back Leonard Fournette, running over Aggie safety Howard Matthews on way to a 22-yard touchdown that knotted the score at 7 with 4:33 remaining in the half.
Fournette’s run sparked the LSU offense as it scored 17 unanswered in the first half to take a 17-7 lead into halftime.
Fournette said the run was a normal one for him, but he said it got him and the team motivated moving forward.
“My coach kept telling us if you’re going to have one person free, make him miss,” Fournette said. “So I tried to the best of my ability to make him miss.”
Fournette busted another big run for the Tigers late in the fourth quarter, going 46 yards to the Aggies’ 32-yard line. Setting up an eventual 43-yard field goal by sophomore kicker Colby Delahoussaye that put the Tigers up 23-17 with 2:07 remaining.
After a missed field goal attempt early in the first quarter, sophomore kicker Delahoussaye was benched in favor of sophomore Trent Domingue. Domingue made two of his three field goal attempts on the game, missing a 40-yard attempt with 9:22 remaining in the game.
Domingue’s miss prompted Miles to put his trust back in Delahoussaye, who delivered in a big way for a Tigers’ offense that halted for much of the second half.
“[Delahoussaye] has been a very reliable kicker,” Miles said. “I think we were fortunate to be able to go to Trent when we did. When Trent faltered, he’s just not as good as Colby. If Colby’s back we need to go with that. It was a key hit, and he’s had some key hits for us.”
The Tigers’ defense got off the field early and often against the Aggies’ struggling spread attack. LSU held Texas A&M to 85 yards at the half, and while LSU’s defense was sweltering for much of the game, it gave way in the fourth quarter allowing the Aggies to inch back.
After a 70-yard field goal drive by the Tigers that chewed 7:35 off the clock, the Tigers failed to put points on the board for the remainder of the half.
The Aggies crawled back into the game with two consecutive drives of more than 50 yards that resulted in 10 points, but it was too little too late for Texas A&M. The Aggies had one more shot at the end zone with 2:07 remaining, but Allen was picked off by junior defensive back Jalen Collins with under 1:30 remaining to seal the win for the Tigers.
LSU freshman defensive back Jamal Adams said the pick by Collins was big for a defense that has struggled to close out games during the past month.
“[The interception] was huge,” Adams said, who tied for the team lead in tackles with eight. “Lately in close games we didn’t finish out the [Alabama] game the way we wanted to. It goes in practice. We practiced the two minute drill hard and it paid off.”
Fournette and sophomore quarterback Anthony Jennings led the way for LSU, gaining 146 and 119 yards respectively on the game.
Jennings early in the third quarter became the first LSU quarterback since Jordan Jefferson in 2010 to rush for more than 100 yards in a game.
Jennings said the men up front for the Tigers helped the team execute the way they hoped heading into the matchup.
“We put it in the game plan for me to have a couple of runs and reads in this game,” Jennings said. “The offensive line did a great job run blocking against those guys and we executed because of them.”
Jennings through the air finished 12-of-21 for 107 yards, with a touchdown and a pick.
The sophomore struggled early, throwing a pick on his second pass of the game on a slant route intended for sophomore wide receiver Travin Dural. The pick set up a 41-yard touchdown run to put the Aggies up 7-0 early in the first quarter.
“It was a great read and a bad ball,” Jennings said. “I just had to put that behind me and continue to keep moving forward in the game and get the win.”
Jennings settled down after the early miscue, using his legs for a huge 36-yard run up the middle to put the Tigers in the red zone. Jennings then found freshman wideout John Diarse four plays later while flushing out of the pocket to put the Tigers up 14-7.
The Tigers dominated time of possession, keeping the ball for 41:13 en route to their eighth victory of the year.
Jennings said the designed jet sweeps and read options helped the offense keep the ball for most of the game.
The eighth win marks the 15th straight season that the Tigers have finished with eight or more wins, which is the longest active streak in college football and the longest streak in school history.
“It’s nice to go into the holiday’s now with the last victory and we look forward to a good bowl destination,” Miles said. “I think our football team is going to be good. I think we’ll be ready for the bowl.”
LSU sophomore quarterback, Anthony Jennings (10), celebrates after throwing a touchdown to freshman wide receiver, John Diarsem(9) during the Tiger’s 23-17 victory over Texas A&M in Kyle Field, College Station on November 27, 2014.
