No. 3 Texas A&M not only had to overcome a talented No. 20 LSU squad in a purple-hazed Death Valley where tens of thousands of gumbo-fueled Cajuns were screaming their heads off, but it also had to overcome itself.
Down 18-14 at halftime and with his team plagued by mistakes, coach Mike Elko did what he does best and turned the ship around at halftime, as the Aggies exorcized 31-year-old demons to win 49-25 for their first victory in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, since 1994.
“We want to be a program that achieves things,” Elko said. “We don’t want to be a program that talks about achieving things.”
Unforced errors burn A&M
Despite the rankings, Death Valley proved the great equalizer. Self-inflicted wounds — some undoubtedly caused by the thumping noise of raging Cajuns — hurt the Aggies more than any Tiger talent could have.
For the second time this season on the road against a ranked opponent, a blocked punt off the foot of redshirt sophomore punter Tyler White gave points to the other team. The safety was only set up because of senior center Koli Faaiu’s errant snap.
Even still, the Maroon and White had an opportunity to go up 21-9 after redshirt freshman WR Ashton Bethel-Roman’s tribute to LSU legend Odell Beckham Jr. put A&M on the 4-yard line. But redshirt sophomore quarterback Marcel Reed threw his first of two interceptions in the end zone.
Junior safety Dalton Brooks had an opportunity to right his offense’s wrong on the subsequent drive, but he let a deflected pass through his hands in the red zone, allowing the Tigers to take their first lead of the game.
Even when the team started rolling in the second half, A&M couldn’t quite get out of its own way. Sophomore WR Terry Bussey’s muffed punt could have given LSU and its fans the jolt they needed, but junior cornerback Bravion Rogers’ recovery prevented any real damage.
Second-half explosion
Facing its first defeat of the season and inevitable accusations of paper tigerdom, A&M didn’t wait long to put the kibosh on any chance of an LSU upset. Thirty-five unanswered points put coach Brian Kelly and Co. in a spot that would prove to be perilous.
“The [halftime] message was all the self-inflicted wounds had to go,” junior defensive tackle DJ Hicks said. “Elko just made it a point to stop those things so we could go out and play our type of football.”
Reed once again relied on his legs in his career-high rushing performance, scrambling up the middle and shaking redshirt junior linebacker Harold Perkins Jr. out of his shoes for a 4-yard score to take the lead and silence the crowd. He finished the night with 108 yards on the ground.
“They tried to put a quote out there that I said that Death Valley was underwhelming, and I guess it was,” Reed said. “They didn’t do much to me. But I love playing in environments like this.”
Junior wide receiver KC Concepcion officially cracked the game open with his second punt return touchdown of the season, this one a weaving 79-yard house call for his ninth score of the year. A four-play drive marked A&M’s next offensive possession and ended in a slow-screen touchdown to freshman running back Jamarion Morrow.
“If you look at the teams that have won the SEC and have made a run in the playoffs, they have explosive players,” Elko said. “Now, we have them. That makes us a challenging offense.”
For good measure, the Maroon and White were able to tack on two more scores on the ground, with graduate student tight end Nate Boerkircher and Morrow both finding paydirt from close range.
Tyree Adams’ injury handicaps LSU offense
While “next man up” in the Southeastern Conference usually means inserting a consensus four-star prospect into the lineup, freshman left tackle Carius Curne looked every bit the part of a wide-eyed freshman.
When LSU redshirt sophomore LT Tyree Adams went down with an ankle injury last week against No. 10 Vanderbilt, Curne was the sacrificial lamb thrust under the Death Valley lights for his first ever start at left tackle against the SEC’s leading sack artist, redshirt senior defensive end Cashius Howell.
Howell immediately introduced himself to 5th-year senior QB Garrett Nussmeier by beating Curne with a “ghost” pass-rush move and whalloping the passer from the blindside for his first sack of the game.
Nussmeier, who came into the game already nursing injuries to his ankle and abdomen, got up grimacing again when Howell beat the right tackle on a sack in one of the few instances that LSU tried to line up in empty. Knowing that pass protection would be an issue, the Tigers lived and died by the quick game, limiting the opportunities for the speedy redshirt junior WR Aaron Anderson to win down the field.
A battered Nussmeier ended up leaving the game in the fourth quarter once things got out of hand, but the LSU offense only mustered 218 pass yards and went 2-12 on third down, while A&M recorded six sacks.
That Aggie pass rush will get an extra week of rest before taking on No. 15 Missouri on Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 8.
“Five SEC games in a row is hard, it takes a physical toll,” Elko said. “The bye week comes at a good time.”
