Heading into Saturday’s game, I thought the only way LSU could defeat Texas A&M was in a shootout. I looked at it as a toss-up, with the only sure thing being that Johnny Manziel would put up points and LSU would have to score a bunch to win.
Short of breaking the reigning Heisman-winner’s arm or leg, the Tigers had no chance of slowing the Aggies down.
I was so sure LSU couldn’t slow Manziel down that I promised my deputy sports editor I’d write a column about how wrong I was if it did.
Well, here it goes — I was dead wrong.
The LSU defense rose to the occasion and stifled the seemingly unstoppable offense — again.
Defensive coordinator John Chavis knows something no one else does. In two games against Manziel, Chavis’ defense has intercepted Johnny Football five times and limited him to just one touchdown. Against everyone else, Manziel has thrown 57 touchdowns and 17 picks.
Twice now, Chavis has done what every other defense, including a pair of Nick Saban’s top-ranked defenses, has failed to do. His scheme has befuddled and contained the most explosive playmaker in the country.
Last season, Chief had an elite defense to employ his plan. He had current-NFL defenders Kevin Minter, Eric Reid and Barkevious Mingo at his disposal, so slowing down Manziel last year wasn’t so shocking.
But through 10 games this season, the LSU defense was anything but elite. It’s a young defense that was shredded in losses to Alabama, Georgia and Ole Miss and didn’t seem to be improving throughout the season.
There was no logical reason to expect it to suddenly improve when facing one of the most explosive offenses in the country.
But it did.
The Tigers held the Aggies to fewer points than it allowed in games against TCU, UAB, Kent State and Furman.
The only team to score less than Texas A&M against LSU was Florida, a team that just lost to Georgia Southern despite the Eagles not completing a single forward pass.
The only way to explain the overnight transformation is that Chavis has the blueprint to stopping Manziel, and during the bye week, his defense learned it to perfection. That’s quite the coaching accomplishment considering the defense has struggled with communication and positioning all season.
Chavis didn’t speak to the media after the game about how he did it. That’s fair. Nobody gave his defense a chance against Manziel and if he wants to keep his secret to himself, that’s entirely his right.
The weather helped as well. The wind and the cold combined with a stiff dew appeared to give Manziel problems throwing the ball, but to make that the focus is unfair to Chavis and his players.
The Tigers’ victory against Auburn can be directly attributed to the weather because Nick Marshall and company played so well once the rain stopped, but LSU dominated the Aggies from start to finish so the comparison doesn’t hold water.
The only explanation is that LSU went in with a good plan and played inspired defensive football. The moral of the story is that Texas A&M’s numbers looked good before the game, but numbers, stats and perceptions don’t mean anything once the game begins.
There was no way true freshman Rashard Robinson could cover Mike Evans, until he did. There was no way LSU’s defensive ends could keep Manziel bottled up, until they did.
The Tigers physically imposed their will, and therefore they won the game. Sometimes football is that simple.
A cynical man would ask where the LSU defense that played yesterday was hiding during the first 10 games of the season, but that’s a question for a different day.