Although to two ranked teams on the road, losing two games before the start of November is not what LSU had in mind when it comes to a do or die year for Brian Kelly in year four, but as disappointing, underwhelming, and unacceptable the loss was from the LSU fan base, the Tigers still have a golden opportunity in front of them at home against third ranked and undefeated Texas A&M.
Still ranked at number 20, LSU’s playoff chances are hanging on by a thread, but as Lloyd Christmas said in the comedy classic “Dumb and Dumber”, “so you are telling me there is a chance”. There is no margin of error for LSU and the schedule only gets tougher starting with this Saturday against Texas A&M, but a win against a Top 3 team will go a long way in quieting a bitter and impatient fan base that is frustrated with how the season is going.
“I feel like mentally this is still the best football team we have and the sky is the limit for us. Even though we have two losses right now, we still feel like we can reach our goals of a national championship.”
LSU DT Jacobian Guillory
“I think it’s basically what we said all year. Go 1-0 every single week and if we do that, we will be in the playoffs. We know what we have to do and we have to be perfect the rest of the season. We still have all our goals in front of us.”
LSU LB West Weeks
“We have been in this position before and as I said earlier this week, the college football landscape has changed. We know that we are not out of it. We just got to be better. We have to be perfect in our details and perfect the rest of the year. That is going to be the goal and the mindset.”
LSU QB Garrett Nussmeier
The Tigers will have to be perfect against a team in Texas A&M that has been perfect this year to this point as the number three team that is coming in at 7-0. All season long, LSU’s theme this year is to be 1-0 each week. Head Coach Brian Kelly believes his team did a good job of approaching the new week and not letting the Vanderbilt loss affect them.
“Our guys are certainly in a position now to do something great here at Tiger Stadium, and that is to go beat the No. 3-team in the country so our focus is squarely on doing that for four quarters [and] playing the consistent football necessary to beat a top-three team. Practiced yesterday [and] loved our energy and enthusiasm, and now you got to go do it. I’m really pleased with the mindset of our team and the opportunity that lies in front of them.”
LSU HC Brian Kelly
Under head coach Mike Elko, the Texas A&M Aggies are taking positive steps in the right direction as he has the Aggies playing as good as anybody in the country with an undefeated record while being on pace of being not only in the SEC Championship picture, but the College Football Playoff picture.
“One of the first things I learned in coaching is that winning is a lot better than losing, all the way around. Everything just feels better when you win, so we always want to do that. That has always been the mission.”
Texas A&M HC Mike Elko
According to Brian Kelly, playing complementary football has been the key to the Aggies’ success while it has been everything but that for the Tigers.
“More than anything else, it’s the ability to win on both sides of the ball. You look at a win against Auburn at 16-10 and then 45-42 against Arkansas, they go on the road to Notre Dame and win another game in the 40’s after giving up points. To be undefeated, you have to rely on both sides of the ball to carry the day and we haven’t been able to do that. We’ve either played really, really good defense and not well enough on offense or had some flashes on offense and then didn’t play at the same standard on defense. That’s why we are where we are and they’re undefeated, but we get a chance to play them on Saturday and at the end of the day we just need to be the better team for three hours and that’s what we’ll be looking forward to doing on Saturday.”
LSU HC Brian Kelly
Last season, it was a tale of two halves when LSU and Texas A&M played. While LSU was the better team in the first half, it was the Aggies that dominated the second half and took the life out of the Tigers in a 38-23 because of three Garrett Nussmeier interceptions and three Marcel Reed touchdown runs.
“There were two high points from that game. One is that we didn’t do a good job in transition from a pro style quarterback to a running quarterback. We didn’t make the adjustment and that cost us. From an offensive standpoint, we self-destructed and we turned the ball over. You can’t do that.”
LSU HC Brian Kelly
Defending mobile quarterbacks has been an Achilles heel for Blake Baker’s defense first last year with Reed, and Jalen Milroe and it has continued this year with Trinidad Chambliss and Diego Pavia. Keeping Reed in the pocket and making sure he does not do damage with his legs is a must for this defense.
“They have done a good job with Sellers forcing him to go east west instead of north south. We have to be able to do that. We didn’t do a good job of that against Vanderbilt and so you can imagine that was a point of emphasis on the practice field every single day this week.”
LSU HC Brian Kelly
LSU’s defense will have to contain Reed potentially without one of their best defensive players and the heartbeat of their team in Whit Weeks, but the Tigers potentially have some good news with Bernard Gooden potentially returning Saturday after missing Vanderbilt with a bruised collarbone injury.
“Gooden practiced yesterday. He didn’t get involved in everything, but we wanted to bring him in slowly so he got some individual, got some team reps. The report this morning was that he felt good. Whit is still non-weight bearing. He’s in the boot and we’ll keep the boot on him for another couple of days before we know what he can do. He’s been doing some additional treatments and is feeling better, but we won’t know on him until later in the week.”
LSU HC Brian Kelly
Linebackers like West Weeks, Harold Perkins Jr., and Davhon Keys will be crucial in spying Reed. The backend of the Tigers’ defense has consistently been a strength for this team with the emergence of players like Mansoor Delane, PJ Woodland, DJ Pickett, AJ Haulcy, and Tamarcus Cooley. They will be tested by talented playmakers for Texas A&M including KC Concepcion, who has six touchdown catches this year, and Mario Craver, who is sixth in the country in receiving yards. The Aggies can still run the football even with the loss of Le’Veon Moss, who will be out with an ankle injury as Rueben Owens has become the primary ball carrier for the team after rushing for two touchdowns last week against the Razorbacks.
Flipping things to LSU’s offense, it was Garrett Nussmeier that a lot of people had before the season in the Heisman conversation, but dealing with injuries, a struggling running game and offensive line has made it really hard for this Tigers offense to be effective. Nussmeier still has been effective in the stat sheet completing 66% of his passes for 1,636 yards and 11 touchdowns, but the Tigers have struggled to put up points only scoring more than 30 points one time this season and that was against Southeastern Louisiana University earlier this year.
Despite the struggles to score offensively, the potential is still there for LSU to do some damage and maybe, Saturday night is the time to do it. Trey’Dez Green has emerged as a dangerous weapon in the Tigers’ passing game 15 catches for 210 yards and three touchdowns with two of those touchdown catches coming in the last two team’s wins.
“I feel like I am just scratching the surface. I feel that I didn’t hit my full potential yet.”
LSU TE Trey’Dez Green
Nussmeier and receiving targets Green, Aaron Anderson, Kyle Parker, Zavion Thomas, and Barion Brown will try to take advantage of an Aggies’ defense that struggled last week allowing 268 rushing yards and 527 total yards in a 45-42 shootout win over the Razorbacks.
“If we don’t fix our own issues, we won’t stop anybody. That was the message that was delivered very clearly to our defense.”
Texas A&M HC Mike Elko
Something also has to give when LSU’s offense and Texas A&M’s defense reaches the red zone. The Tigers have struggled mightily in the red zone this season while Texas A&M is ranked 127th in red zone defense.
While LSU is trying to bounce back and keep their season from spiraling, Texas A&M is also trying to achieve something that they haven’t accomplished since 1994, which is to win on the road in Tiger Stadium.
“We can’t just keep saying we want to be something. We’re actually at some point going to have to go out and do it. That was going to require us winning on the road, winning SEC games on the road, beating top 10 teams.”
Texas A&M HC Mike Elko
Once again, for Brian Kelly, he and the Tigers need to take the advice ironically given by LSU’s previous head coach Ed Orgeron to block out the noise and focusing on the task at hand on Saturday.
“I recognize everybody’s angst. My meal doesn’t taste good. I’m not in a great mood. The guys are angry and they’re frustrated. We’ve got to turn that into allowing them to go and play this game fast and free and physical and do that when it matters most.”
LSU HC Brian Kelly
Keys To The Game:
- Be aggressive but also have integrity in pass rush lanes against Marcel Reed. Make him beat you from the pocket.
- Have to be productive when it matters most (3rd down and red zone)
- Be more efficient on 1st and 2nd down to help Garrett Nussmeier and the offense.
Final Score Prediction: LSU 27, Texas A&M 24
You are probably saying that Jace, you are absolutely crazy picking LSU to win this football game after losing to Vanderbilt and possibly, you are right for saying that. However, this college football season, the SEC in particular, has been crazy and you can’t be logical when picking crazy. This is a desperate time for LSU. When a team is backed into the corner, that is when they are most dangerous. LSU has been a lot better team at home than on the road this year and I believe that this team has a lot to prove and will play up to their standard. At some point, the LSU team that had such high expectations at the start of the year has to show up and I believe that this could be that point for LSU.
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