The LSU Tigers traveled just hours away from Baton Rouge to College Station in hopes of closing out their regular season successfully. On paper, this game looked to be ready for LSU’s taking. Prior to their matchup at Kyle Field, the Aggies were just 1-6 in regards to SEC play and 4-7 on the season.
This ended up not being the case, however. Texas A&M put forth their best 11 on the field and the roar of the 12th man only aided the Aggies’ success. LSU walked away from Kyle Field defeated, with only 23 points to Texas A&M’s 38.
“We just weren’t out best today,” Head coach Brian Kelly said following the tough loss. “I’d like to give you a reason why we weren’t, but we just weren’t our best today, and we needed to be better.”
The Aggies played this game just as they should have. Their confidence and fight as the heavy underdogs created a momentum that was easy to tread throughout each of the four quarters. This high energy and confidence is exactly what the Tigers lacked.
“We already knew Texas A&M was going to be a tough game, the last game of the season,” running back Noah Cain said following the loss. “We knew they had nothing to lose, we got into that game and we had everything to lose.”
LSU was really only able to capitalize on rushing yards. Every touchdown that the Tigers garnered began with quick handoffs. John Emery Jr. headlined the performance of LSU offense. He accounted for two of the Tigers’ touchdowns. On the rushing end, Emery Jr., Noah Cain and Jayden Daniels accounted for 187 total rushing yards. The Tigers mustered up 384 total yards to the Aggies’ 429 total yards.
Daniels threw the ball for a 60% pass completion rate, battling through injuries throughout the game. Daniels completed 21 of his 35 attempts and accounted for 189 of LSU’s passing yards. Garrett Nussmeier came in for a play after Daniels went down for the first time, and completed one pass for eight yards.
As LSU’s offense wavered, so did its defense. Just as the Tiger offense struggled to capitalize on third downs, their defense struggled to not allow Texas A&M to capitalize on its own.
The Aggies seemed to move down the field with ease. Quarterback Conner Weigman threw for 155 yards and completed two touchdowns of his own. Their offense collected 274 total rushing yards. Multiple Aggies headlined their offensive performance.
“Their good players played really, really well,” Kelly explained, when asked about the Aggies’ performance. “I thought their best players played to their levels today. It was great energy in the stadium. We didn’t match it.”
LSU will now travel to the SEC Championship next weekend against the Georgia Bulldogs with three losses under their belt.
