After a successful trip to Starkville, Mississippi, that resulted in a victory over Mississippi State, No. 14 Texas A&M football faces its biggest conference test so far this season when No. 8 LSU travels to town at 6:30 p.m. Saturday. The last three times LSU has played at Kyle Field, A&M has secured wins, and the Aggies will hope to send the Tigers packing with another loss.
The A&M offense has posted 30 or more points in four games this season, most recently against the Bulldogs, where it registered 34 points. Led by redshirt sophomore quarterback Conner Weigman, the offense amounted to 217 passing yards and 137 rushing yards, with eight receivers and five rushers contributing to the overall offensive success.
“I think Conner Weigman is a really good quarterback,” LSU coach Brian Kelly said. “He is deceptive in terms of his speed, and he’s got very good weapons.”
In the turnover battle, though, A&M gave the ball away twice and will need to hold onto the ball if it wants to come out on top with a victory. It will hope to flip the script this weekend against a hungry Tiger defense that is No. 67 in total defense, allowing 358.4 yards per game and 5.75 yards per play.
“We trust Conner, and Conner should trust himself because he’s really talented,” coach Mike Elko said. “We want him to trust his eyes and go through his progressions and make the throws that he is capable of making. He knows he has to protect the football.”
On the ground, the Maroon and White have seen junior running backs Le’Veon Moss and Amari Daniels get most of the reps. Moss leads the team with 674 rushing yards and eight touchdowns while Daniels has 292 yards and five touchdowns. The success in the run game has resulted in the duo continuing to bulldoze defenses, with both scoring in the same game three times this season.
A successful spot that the Aggies executed well in last week was on third down. A&M finished with a season-best 63.4% on third down conversions, going 9-of-14 on the day. To defeat the Tigers, the Aggies must continue moving the sticks like they have been doing recently.
The LSU defense must figure out how to quickly shut down the A&M offense, because if it doesn’t, it could cost it a ticket to the SEC Championship in Atlanta. Last Saturday, the defense gave up 277 yards in a 34-10 win at Arkansas. To replicate that success, LSU’s key playmakers will need to ensure that there are no miscommunications, blown coverages or distractions.
“You have to prepare and understand that in that environment,” Kelly said. “You have to block out those distractions because if you don’t, they will affect the outlook of certain games.”
Unfortunately for the Tigers, they will be without star junior linebacker Harold Perkins Jr., who was one of the top 2025 NFL Draft prospects before suffering a season-ending ACL injury. But LSU has a next-man-up mentality, where sophomore LB Whit Weeks and senior LB Greg Penn Ⅲ have had to step up and lead the team in solo and total tackles.
“I think sometimes when your best player, your most talented player, goes down, sometimes everyone else sorta elevates themselves around it, and I think they’re playing really good football,” Elko said. “I think they have gotten more and more comfortable on defense with the system.”
Senior safety Major Burns and sophomore cornerback Ashton Stamps have also had to be in a mindset to step up in the secondary. They will be tasked with defending the deep depth chart of A&M wide receivers, while senior defensive ends Braydn Swinson and Sai’vion Jones must apply pressure to upset Weigman.
The 12th Man will be ready and rocking on Saturday for a matchup with plenty of SEC and playoff implications.
“It’s gonna be a huge challenge,” Elko said. “It’s going to be a great environment. It’s gonna be an opportunity for us to go out there and show we belong on this stage.”
