By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
That’s more like it.
What a difference a new coach makes.
The last time LSU played Texas A&M, it was humiliated, 49-25, including by 35-7 in the second half, and coach Brian Kelly was fired the next morning.
The LSU Nation may have celebrated this one until early Sunday morning as new coach Lane Kiffin delivered a dominating, 35-6 victory over the No. 23 Aggies and finally stopped quarterback Marcel Reed after he shredded LSU’s defense for blowout wins the last two seasons.
The No. 10 Tigers (3-1, 1-1 Southeastern Conference), who had lost three of the last four to Texas A&M, beat the Aggies (2-2, 0-2 SEC) for the first time since 42-30 in 2023 and enjoyed their most lopsided win over A&M since 50-7 in the Tigers’ 2019 national championship season.
“So, that’s a really quality win,” Kiffin said. “Two teams that were ranked in the top 25. We win, 35-6, and really have kind of dominating numbers – 506 yards to 197. When those things happen, that’s a lot of people doing things right. They prepared really well. Suffocating defense, which is what we talked about all week and did a really good job defensively.”
Yes, the third time was the charm for LSU defensive coordinator Blake Baker as his unit held Reed to minus-13 rushing yards on 10 carries, counting four sacks, and to a mere 106 yards through the air on 10-of-26 passing. That after Reed rushed for 170 yards and five touchdowns over the previous two games (with a 38-23 win in 2024) while completing 14 of 23 passes for another 272 yards and two touchdowns.
“That was big for the few people who were here last year, especially Blake Baker for the last two years – to play that way and to limit Marcel Reed,” Kiffin said.
“I thought they did a better job of doing some things up front to take that (Reed’s running) away from us,” Texas A&M coach Mike Elko said. “We tried to do some different things to get him going. We just weren’t able to.”
Reed rushed for 12 yards up the middle on the Aggies’ first play of the game, bringing back nightmare memories for LSU fans, but that was his longest run of the night.
“We just couldn’t get it going, as simple as that,” Reed said. “We executed stuff in practice, and it just didn’t translate to the game. They have a new coach and a few players from the portal (actually 42 in all), but I mean that’s college football nowadays. Obviously, they played better than us this year. And that was obvious.”
LSU also decimated the defensive plan of Texas A&M coach Mike Elko, a defensive expert who was formerly defensive coordinator for A&M and at Notre Dame under Kelly, to the tune of five football fields.
LSU quarterback Sam Leavitt outplayed Reed by two football fields, completing 17 of 23 passes for 312 yards and two touchdowns. And he did most of that after suffering a hamstring injury in the second quarter. But he stayed in the game, and he stayed in the pocket for the most part, because of the injury.
“Sam obviously is very injured,” Kiffin said. “But really gutsy performance by him. I was actually getting ready to take him out, and he said now way was he coming out. He was going to play through it. He showed his toughness to play through that, and it got worse later.”
Kiffin said Leavitt will have to deal with the pain, but “it will eventually come back” and heal, he said.
Wide receiver Jackson Harris caught six passes for 163 yards and two touchdowns, while wide receiver Winnie Watkins Jr. added five catches for 107 yards.
LSU rushed for 194 yards on 38 carries at 5.1 yards a pop with running back Dilin Jones gaining 63 on 14 carries.
“I don’t have many words,” Elko said. “We have to find a way to play better football. We’re not playing football at nearly a good enough level, obviously. That’s the understatement of a lifetime. I don’t have answers right now, but we’ve got to find them. And we’ve got to find them fast.”
As well as the LSU defense played, though, there was bad news as senior linebacker Whit Weeks apparently injured his ankle in the third quarter, hopped off the field, did not return and was later on crutches.
“With Whit, I don’t have any update on that,” Kiffin said. “But obviously, it didn’t look good when he walked off,” Kiffin said.
“It looked really bad,” LSU coach Lane Kiffin on Whit Weeks’ apparent ankle injury in TV interview. @kacehk https://t.co/yBJxlHLEZL
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) September 27, 2026
LSU’s defense ransacked Reed despite not have starting star position player Dashawn Spears, who suffered a knee injury last week in the loss at Ole Miss and was lost for the season. Safety Ty Benefield moved to Spears’ position with backup safety Jhase Thomas taking Benefield’s spot.
Benefield, a fifth-year senior transfer from Boise State, led both teams with seven tackles.
“We made a unique move with Dashawn being out,” Kiffin said. “We moved Ty and played him in that (star) spot the whole game for those perimeter runs and quarterback scrambles. That’s a really great tackler right there, and he was re-routing perimiter plays and stuff.”
The Tigers took a 14-3 lead with 1:54 left in the first half on a 16-yard touchdown pass from Leavitt to Harris,
That same combination put the game away for good – if it wasn’t already – early in the third quarter. On fourth-and-one from the LSU 43-yard line, Kiffin gambled. The Tigers faked run, the Aggies bit foolishly, and Leavitt found Harris all alone at the center of Elko’s defense for a 57-yard touchdown and 21-3 lead with with 10-57 left in the third quarter.
And the rout was on.
The Tigers made it 28-3 on their next possession after the Aggies – sensing the finality of things – failed to convert a fourth-and-one from their own 34-yard line. Five plays later, LSU backup quarterback Landen Clark, who went in for short-yardage running situations, scored on a 4-yard run.
Safety Marcus Ratcliffe intercepted Leavitt on LSU’s next drive at the LSU 40, but the Aggies’ anemic offense had to settle for a 53-yard field goal from David Olano for a 28-6 score. Leavitt answered that with a 36-yard completion to Harris to the Aggies’ 12-yard line. And three plays later, Clark scored on a 2-yard run for a 35-6 lead after three quarters.
LSU hosts McNeese State (2-3) Saturday in Tiger Stadium at 6:45 p.m.
The Tigers took a 7-0 lead on their second possession of the game on an 82-yard drive in eight plays. Leavitt found Harris for a 19-yard completion to the LSU 40. Then Jones gained 36 yards to the Aggies’ 24-yard line. Leavitt found Watkins for another 15 yards before Jones later scored on a 1-yard run with 9:37 to go in the first quarter.
Olano got the Aggies within 7-3 on a 24-yard field goal with 8:46 to go before halftime.
A&M had little to cheer for after that, which was a far cry from last season when the Aggies basically occupied Tiger Stadium late in the 49-25 blowout as LSU fans left in droves.
“Before we go, I thought the fans were great,” Kiffin said as he closed the press conference. “I thought the crowd was awesome. It was electric. They were in there tonight, and the A&M fans certainly didn’t take over our stadium this time. I actually saw a lot of their fans gone at the end. So it was good payback.”
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