Going into a hostile environment is never easy, especially Death Valley. But No. 3 Texas A&M football made it look that way in the second half against No. 20 LSU in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Saturday Oct. 25. After trailing 18-14 at halftime, the Aggies rallied to put up 35 unanswered points to lock the Tigers back in their cage, 49-25.
“Tonight, maybe in the second half, was the first time both sides of the ball were really clicking together,” coach Mike Elko said. “And I think you saw what that could look like for us.”
The Aggies’ defense — led by redshirt senior defensive end Cashius Howell — came out blazing in its first appearance on the field. Howell slammed 5th-year senior quarterback Garrett Nussmeier to the turf for his first sack of the game to force a third-and-long situation, before the passer was pressured to throw the ball away and kill the drive.
With senior running back Le’Veon Moss out for the foreseeable future, offensive coordinator Collin Klein went to his second-best ground-game option in redshirt sophomore QB Marcel Reed on A&M’s first offensive drive. Reed found open space easily on a 41-yard rushing touchdown, stamping his footprint on the muddy Tiger Stadium end zone.
“It fuels me, I love playing in away environments,” Reed said. “They tried to put a quote out there that I said that Death Valley was ‘underwhelming.’ And shoot, I guess it was.”
A series of short throws from Nussmeier set the Tigers up on the goal line before Lake Charles, Louisiana, native found sophomore tight end Trey’Dez Green for a 5-yard touchdown, bringing the Death Valley crowd to its feet.
Reed responded on the following drive with his legs once more as he targeted space in the middle of the field for a 14-yard run. But the dual-threat quarterback was just heating up after converting on two third downs, both targets to junior wide receiver KC Concepcion, who finished the drive with a 15-yard touchdown reception to put A&M up 14-7.
Offensively, the Maroon and White were clicking on all fronts until the start of the second quarter, when all kinds of mayhem ensued.
After an 11-yard completion, Reed fumbled the snap on the next play and practically removed the positive gain. Then, LSU almost picked off the Nashville, Tennessee, native after sophomore cornerback PJ Woodland jumped a route intended for sophomore WR Mario Craver and broke up the pass.
To make matters worse for the Aggies, an all-out defensive push against the Aggies’ offensive line forced Reed into a dangerous situation outside the pocket. On the ensuing punt, a swarm of Tigers got to redshirt sophomore punter Tyler White punt early and blocked it out of the back of the end zone for a safety.
After the special teams blunder, the Maroon and White defense held strong on third down to put the ball back in Reed’s hands. But after driving down the field on two 20-plus-yard throws, Reed couldn’t connect on a stick-nod route in the end zone — intended for redshirt junior TE Theo Melin Örström — and the ball fell right into the hands of LSU senior safety A.J. Haulcy.
In a surprising turn of events, the usual Tigers’ starter, sophomore RB Caden Durham was absent from the starting lineup, but the next man up in freshman RB Harlem Berry was ready for his moment. The New Orleans native found success early in the first half but after a disappointing second half, he tallied just 59 yards on the night.
Two major blunders by redshirt sophomore cornerback Dezz Ricks allowed for Berry’s second score of his Tiger career, which put LSU up 15-14. The first was a costly 15 yards for unnecessary roughness. Then, he allowed a 41-yard bomb to senior WR Barion Brown that put the Tigers in place for Berry’s 7-yard rushing touchdown.
Back on offense, Reed’s night went from bad to worse at the end of the second quarter after throwing his second interception on the ensuing drive, this time to junior linebacker Harold Perkins Jr. — the former Aggie commit’s first of the season.
“You’re the better team, but you have to play better football, and if you don’t … you’re gonna let one slip away in the minutes,” Elko said in his halftime speech. “Obviously, we went out and got a good start for the second half, and I think we got the momentum.”
After a lackluster end to the half, Elko and Klein went back to what was working on the ground and put up 35 unanswered points behind the duo of Reed and redshirt sophomore RB Rueben Owens. Reed ended up leading the team in rushing yards with 108 and two scores, combined with his 202 yards through the air and pair of passing touchdowns.
Reed’s quarterback keepers combined with Owens’ bully-rushes propped up the Aggies in the red zone for the former’s second touchdown on the ground to retake the lead.
After Nussmeier was sacked by junior defensive tackle DJ Hicks, Concepcion fielded LSU’s punt and darted through Tiger defenders on his way to a 79-yard punt return for a touchdown, extending A&M’s lead to 28-18.
“It’s amazing when you get a touchdown and you don’t have to go onto the field,” Reed said. “And I told him, I was like, ‘You were that guy’, like, I’ve never seen anybody be that explosive in the punt-return game on my team.”
Following a 24-yard touchdown pass to freshman RB Jamarion Morrow — the second receiving score of his career — the Fightin’ Farmers pulled away at the end of the third quarter and into the fourth, 42-18. Morrow added another score on the ground later in the fourth quarter to put things on ice for the visitors.
The Aggies held LSU to just seven points and 89 yards of total offense in the second half in an all-incompassing performance.
Next, A&M will finish out its road-stint in Columbia, Missouri, on Saturday, Nov. 8, after an extra week of rest.
