GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
If No. 20 LSU was going to upset No. 3 Texas A&M, it would take a lot of smoke and mirrors at Tiger Stadium Saturday night.
LSU provided the smoke before kickoff with an impressive fireworks display as the fumes clouded the entire field. And the Tigers mirrored some opportunistic teams of old in taking an 18-14 halftime lead.
But the smoke eventually cleared, and the Aggies smashed all the mirrors and turned out the lights of Tiger Stadium with a 21-0 third quarter and burned on to a 49-25 shut down of the long-extinguished Tigers, who lost their second straight game.
Without a 12-yard touchdown pass from LSU backup quarterback Michael Van Buren to wide receiver Kyle Parker with 59 seconds to play for the final, the Tigers would have lost by 31. That would’ve been the most lopsided loss of the four-year Brian Kelly era at LSU, which may be in more danger of ending soon than ever.
LSU picked a fine time to raise season ticket prices – the day before the low ebb of Brian Kelly era. And Governor Jeff Landry wants an audible. Or, maybe, LSU is building a war chest for a new coach? Column: https://t.co/g6j0ax2pSQ
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) October 26, 2025
A crowd of 101,924 enjoyed the first half, but fans were leaving by the end of the third quarter with the Aggies at the 2-yard line and about to score again.
They played “Callin’ Baton Rouge” just before the fourth quarter opened, but it seemed like nobody was home. Perhaps The Athletic should do a re-count of its tabulation on Tiger Stadium being the No. 1 college football stadium in America?
Brian Kelly is 23-2, 12-2 in SEC and 3-1 vs. Top 10 in Tiger Stadium, which was just named No. 1 college football stadium in America. That’s one ranking Kelly needs to ring true more than ever in his time at LSU Saturday night vs. No. 3 A&M:https://t.co/UZ2qJfbMqL
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) October 23, 2025
The Aggies took a 42-18 lead on the second play of the final stanza, and the place really started emptying at that point.
Death Valley emptied by Aggies. pic.twitter.com/QOSz9FZvJU
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) October 26, 2025
LSU (5-3, 2-3 Southeastern Conference) fell out of the 12-team College Football Playoff with its earliest third loss of a season since Oct. 9, 2021, when the Tigers went on to finish 6-7 and 3-5.
The Aggies (8-0, 5-0 SEC) beat LSU in Tiger Stadium for the first time since joining the SEC in 2012. Their last win at Tiger Stadium before Saturday was in 1994.
LSU has an open week before playing at No. 6 Alabama (7-1, 5-0 SEC) on Nov. 8. That’s an extra week for the bitter LSU fan base to obsess over the questionable future of $10 million-a-year LSU coach Brian Kelly, who fell to 5-11 against the top 25 with the Tigers and misses the playoffs for the fourth straight year.
GOT RECEIPTS?: Todd Horne Column
The Tide outlasted South Carolina, 29-22, on Saturday. The Tigers’ schedule lightens up after that – on paper – with Arkansas (2-6, 0-4 SEC) on Nov. 15. Arkansas lost, 33-24, to Auburn on Saturday. Then it is Western Kentucky (6-2, 4-1 Conference-USA) on Nov. 22 and the regular season finale at No. 13 Oklahoma (6-2, 2-2 SEC) on Nov. 29. The Sooners lost at home to No. 8 and playoff-bound Ole Miss, 34-26, on Saturday.
The Tigers started fast Saturday, but in the end LSU’s best half of football and 18-14 halftime lead went up in smoke by midway in the third quarter.
First, the Aggies retook the lead at 21-18 on their first possession of the second half as quarterback Marcel Reed led a 56-yard drive in nine plays. He rushed four times for 30 yards on the possession and scored on a 5-yard run with 10:41 to go in the third period. He finished with 108 yards on 13 carries and two touchdowns while completing 12 of 21 for 202 yards and two touchdowns, shredding LSU’s defense.
What is it like playing for a fraudulent defense? “This was probably one of the best preparation weeks we’ve had, and it just didn’t come together.”
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) October 26, 2025
-LSU LB West Weeks … @andrechampagnee https://t.co/Gh56LReGiF
A&M forced a punt, and wide receiver/returner K.C. Concepcion returned it 79 yards for a touchdown and commanding 28-18 lead with 8:47 left in the period. And that was it.
LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier completed 22 of 25 passes for 168 yards and a touchdown. The Tigers ran well in the first half but finished with 60 yards rushing to 225 by A&M, which outgained LSU, 427 to 279.
Considering the competition against an undefeated top five team, LSU played clearly its best half of football all season in taking the halftime lead. But it was all for naught.
The Aggies outgained LSU, 258 yards to 189 in the first half, but an opportunistic defense kept the Tigers in the game as Reed threw two interceptions, including one from LSU’s 3-yard line to safety A.J. Haulcy in the end zone when A&M was about to go up 21-9.
Instead, Haulcy returned the pick 25 yards, and LSU stayed within, 14-9. A&M stopped LSU on 3rd-and-18 from its 17-yard line when Nussmeier threw to Aaron Anderson for 10 yards and out of bounds. But A&M cornerback Dez Ricks got called for unnecessary roughness on the sidelines for 15 yards to the LSU 42-yard line.
Nussmeier immediately took advantage with a perfect deep strike to wide receiver Barion Brown, who made the catch while well covered at the Aggies’ 17-yard line. True freshman running back Harlem Berry, who started, gained 13 yards up the middle, then scored on a 7-yard run for LSU’s first lead of the game at 15-14. Damian Ramos missed the extra point.
LSU linebacker Harold Perkins Jr. then intercepted Reed four plays later at the after a tip by cornerback Mansoor Delane and returned it three yards to the A&M 49-yard line.
Running back Caden Durham struck for 28 yards up the middle under the Tigers’ newfound running game to the A&M 16-yard line. Nussmeier threw two incomplete passes, however, and had to call a timeout as the offense returned to its more usual confused state in the end zone. LSU settled for a 30-yard field goal from Ramos as Kelly and Nussmeier appeared to get into a heated conversation on the sidelines.
Kelly also appeared to be chewing out offensive coordinator Joe Sloan on the headphones about the red zone failure.
The Tigers ran surprisingly well in the first half 68 yards on 14 carries. Berry gained 56 yards on eight rushes, while Durham had 30 on three rushes. But A&M took a 10-point lead so quickly in the third quarter that LSU abandoned the running game.
Nussmeier completed 13 of 20 passes for 121 yards in the first half with a 5-yard touchdown to tight end Trey’Dez Green for a 7-7 tie with 5:38 left in the first quarter.
Reed completed 10 of 18 passes for 172 yards in the first half with a 15-yard touchdown to wide receiver K.C. Concepcion for a 14-7 lead with 40 seconds to go in the first quarter. Reed rushed 5 times for 58 yards in the first half, including a 41-yard scramble for a touchdown and 7-0 lead at the 10:10 mark of the first quarter on A&M’s first possession.
LSU cut A&M’s lead to 14-9 when true freshman safety Jhase Thomas blocked a punt from the A&M 16-yard line. The ball bounced out of the end zone for the safety with 12:13 left in the second quarter.
Green caught three passes for 26 yards in the first half – all on LSU’s second possession of the game – as Nussmeier directed the Tigers on an eight-play, 74-yard drive for a 7-7 tie in the first quarter. Green caught passes of seven and 14 yards on the drive before the 5-yard touchdown.
By the fourth quarter, LSU’s offense and team were just going through the motions.
Be the first to comment