It was the tale of two halves, as LSU Football went from the best first half of the season to their worst third quarter that would end up in a disappointing blowout that gave the Aggies their first win in Death Valley since 1994.
The Tigers had a strong first half on offense, defense and special teams where they finally showed they could play complimentary football. Two offensive touchdowns, one by Trey’Dez Green and Harlem Berry, two interceptions to Marcel Reed, and a block punt that resulted in a safety had LSU leading 18 to 14 in the first half, a surprise for many fans in Baton Rouge.
Texas A&M scored three touchdowns in their first three positions of the second half, one of them was a punt return. LSU’s offense was completely unable to respond as Garrett Nussmeier was consistently pressured. He struggled to put the ball in his receivers hands when the Aggies pass rush started doing a better job against an injured offensive line. Coach Brian Kelly explains a little of what happened to this offense in the second half.
“The inability offensively to get into any kind of rhythm, which has been on and off on us virtually the entire year,” said Kelly.
After tacking a sack with five minutes on the clock, coach Kelly decided it was time to bench Nussmeri and play backup quarterback Michael Van Buren. The LSU starting QB couldn’t hide his emotions when he was told about the decision. Coach Kelly explains why he took the decision of putting his backup quarterback in.
“We were struggling with protection. I thought it would have been unfair to have him in the game, under the circumstances where the game was clearly out of reach. To have him in the game, I think, would have been a malpractice from my standpoint.”
Van Buren threw a touchdown against the Aggies backups to Kyle Parker. It was irrelevant as the game was close to being over with Texas A&M having a 24 point lead.
Both Kelly and Nussmeier took hits from a frustrated crowd after another disappointing loss. Nussmeier was booed since before the game started, while “fire Kelly chants” happened all through the game.
In the last two years, the Aggies have done a great job at switching gears at halftime when playing the Tigers, as they have outscored the Tigers 66-13. Last year, it was Marcel Reed taking the defense by surprise. This year, it was LSU as a team, being unable to do anything during the second half on all three sides of the ball.
Marcel Reed and his team had a high expectation on how they could achieve history in Death Valley.
“They kind of told us the story. Just kick them in the butt and the crowd will start to empty out towards the third and fourth quarter. They did, our crowd started to go over there and take over their student section and make all the noise at the end of the game,” said Reed. After the end of the third quarter, it was all Gig’ em in the stands.
This was Brian Kelly’s second loss at night in Death Valley at Night. Both of them blowouts that would take them away from being playoff contenders. It was Alabama in 2024 and now Texas A&M in 2025. The Tigers will have a bye week, then visit Tuscaloosa in what could be the toughest battle yet, with not too much to play for.
