An Early Look at LSU Football's Matchup With No. 5 Texas A&M

Run defense will be key against Aggie team who ranks first in SEC in rushing yards per game

LSU is back to .500 after a 27-24 win over Arkansas but the Tigers undoubtedly face its toughest stretch of 2020 over the final month of the season. With four games left to play, LSU is currently scheduled to play No. 5 Texas A&M, a high flying offense in Ole Miss and a No. 6 Florida Gators whose quarterback Kyle Trask continues to make a run at the Heisman.

That's not to mention the matchup with No. 2 Alabama, which has yet to be rescheduled after its Nov. 14 postponement. But first on the docket is a second straight road outing with the Aggies (6-1), who have put together a great 2020 campaign in their quest for a College Football Playoff berth. 

It's the first time in the Jimbo Fisher era of Texas A&M that the Aggies legitimately have a shot at a CFP spot but likely hinges on how the Crimson Tide finishes the season. Alabama handed Texas A&M its only loss of the season in convincing fashion but the Aggies would respond the very next week by defeating a No. 4 ranked Florida team at the time. 

The matchup will be a great opportunity for this young LSU team taking on a more experienced roster that will be in a very similar position as the Tigers were the last few weeks. After a bye week during the Nov. 14 date, the Aggies' game against Ole Miss scheduled for Nov. 21 was postponed due to COVID-19 protocols. 

That means when LSU heads to Kyle Field this weekend, it will have been three weeks since Texas A&M’s last game. Sound familiar? The Tigers are just coming off a three week delay of their own after a loss to Auburn at the beginning of the month while the Aggies will be coming off a 48-3 throttling of South Carolina. 

Texas A&M is led by senior quarterback Kellen Mond and running back Isaiah Spiller, who is No. 4 in the SEC in rushing yards with 643 for the season. Mond has been a three-year starter for the Aggies and came into the 2020 season as the longest tenured returning quarterback. 

His 2020 season has undoubtedly been his best, passing for 1,468 yards and 16 touchdowns while completing 64% of his passes and rushing for an additional 112. The Aggies rely on the run game possibly more than any other SEC program as it averages a conference leading 189.17 yards per game and 5.41 yards per carry, also tops in the SEC. 

The Tigers are coming off a solid performance against the run, something that coach Ed Orgeron said was a priority against the Razorbacks and that a big reason was sticking to fewer defenses throughout the course of the game. 

"We didn't play many defenses today. We didn't have many checks. I thought our guys had their cleats in the grass," Orgeron said. "They played well. Arkansas had a good run game. We stopped the run game. We made them one dimensional."

LSU's riding high off a great week of preparation and an up and down performance against Arkansas that leaves some level of confidence for this week’s matchup against the Aggies. The Tigers open as 12.5 point underdogs against Texas A&M and have won eight of its last nine games in the series. 

A big question mark which we should find out more about today is the status of All-American cornerback Derek Stingley, who went out with an injury in the second half on Saturday.

The Tigers were able to find a performance to build on and while it figures to be an uphill climb, Orgeron is confident that this team is starting to find its identity. 

"Grit. Will to win. 'We got this, Coach.' Everybody stuck together. Everybody's into the game the whole time," Orgeron said after the Arkansas win. "Coaches stuck together. You could just feel that all week and hopefully that that's the way things are going to be from now on. We can build on it."