Returning home after a furious comeback effort in Oxford fell short, LSU was looking to notch their first SEC win under Lane Kiffin. They were welcoming the Texas A&M Aggies, who were also coming off of a loss in their conference opener. Both losses were very much different, though. The Tigers lost on the road to a top-10 Ole Miss team in what was one of the most anticipated regular season games in recent history. Kiffin’s return turned that game in to a spectacle and even if not for the extra flair, it was still a road loss to a good team that made it to the College Football Playoff semi-final last year with the best quarterback and running back in the country. The Aggies, on the other hand, fell to Kentucky as 17-point favorites at home. That’s right, the Wildcats in just their fourth game under new head coach, Will Stein, walked in to Kyle Field and dominated Texas A&M 31-21. They out-physicaled Mike Elko’s team, who prides themselves in physicality. Loser of this game was going to be in big trouble. Suffering a second loss before the calendar turns to October would be devastating. LSU seemed to be in better shape coming in, but Marcel Reed was coming to Tiger Stadium with all of the confidence in the world with what he did in this matchup for the past two years. It was this very game in 2025 that became an Aggie blowout, emptying Death Valley and eventually getting Brian Kelly fired the next day. Blake Baker’s capabilities were being called in to question, as ridiculous as that sounds. LSU needed this one and was relying on Sam Leavitt to bounce back after a shaky performance in week 3. He faced an extra hurdle in this one, but one that Kiffin joked afterwards, actually may have helped him. 1st quarter flow For the third straight game, LSU’s first possession ended in a 3-and-out. Texas A&M took over and when Marcel Reed scrambled for 12 yards on the first play, shades of the past two years quickly arose. Thankfully, the Tiger defense locked in to force a quick punt after just one first down. Taking over at their own 18, that’s when Sam Leavitt and the offense went to work. Big plays of 19, 36, and 15 yards helped set up a 1 yard touchdown run by Dilin Jones on a direct snap. After another Aggie 3-and-out, Leavitt made one of his only mistakes of the night. On a 3rd down scramble in which he easily had the first down, he slid too early and Lane Kiffin chose to punt. Reuben Owens started the Texas A&M drive with a 16 yard run, but that would be all, leading to the third punt of the opening quarter. LSU would answer with a 3-and-out of their own. A 16 yard pass from Reed to Mario Craver on 3rd and 14 extended their next drive as the quarter came to an end. 1st quarter summary Despite the one touchdown drive, the Tigers left quite a few opportunities on the field. It was clear early that they were the better team, but some rustiness out of the gates seemed to prevent them from getting off to too hot of a start. On the other side, Blake Baker’s gameplan for Reed was off to a great start. Each team punted the ball 3 times in the quarter, but LSU had outgained Texas A&M 101-55. 2nd quarter flow Following the big 3rd down conversion to end the quarter, the Aggies put together their one really good drive of the night. They gained 5 first downs and looked poised to tie the game when Reed scrambled with a clear path to the endzone, but a shoestring tackle by PJ Woodland tripped him up. After a 1st and goal from the 7 yard line, Baker’s defense bowed up and forced the short field goal attempt. David Olano booted a 24 yard field goal to make it a 7-3 game. When the Tigers got the ball back, Leavitt found Jackson Harris for a big gain of 26 to start the drive. Although that would be their only first down, something else of significance happened. On a 3rd and 12, Leavitt scrambled, but came up gimpy as he ran out of bounds. Grant Chadwick punted the ball away for the fourth time, but it appeared as if Kiffin’s quarterback was hampered. The defense forced another 3-and-out and LSU took over at their own 17 yard line with just over 4 minutes in the half. It became the Leavitt to Winnie Watkins drive, as the two connected on passes of 35 and 36 yards. On just the seventh play of the drive, Harris came down with an acrobatic touchdown catch to cap off the 83 yard drive that took just 2:21 off of the clock. Although Reed was able to find Isaiah Horton for a big gain of 27 to get across midfield, a holding penalty brought them back and Mike Elko chose to head to halftime down 14-3. 2nd quarter summary Both offenses were able to get a little more going in the 2nd quarter, but only LSU was able to find the endzone. Texas A&M dominated time of possession with 10:09, but only came away with 3 points to show for it. Leavitt was starting to get warmed up and in rhythm with both Harris and Watkins, but the concern was his injury. Although he stayed in the game, going to sit for 15-20 minutes at halftime is always something to watch. 3rd quarter flow The Aggies received the opening kickoff of the second half, but on a short 3rd and 3 to start the drive, Tamarcus Cooley blitzed Reed for a sack to force another 3 and out. Tyler White continued his stellar night of punting, booting a 58 yard punt that flipped the field from their own 21 to the LSU 21 yard line. After a first down, the Tigers faced a 3rd and 1 near midfield. Jones got stuffed for a no gain, bringing up a 4th and 1 from in their own territory. Kiffin later said that he was strongly considering a punt with how well the defense was playing, but at the last second, he remembered who he is and why he was brought to LSU. To make things happen. LSU lined up in their tight, direct snap package that they’ve shown through three and a half games, but just before the snap, Jones and Leavitt casually shifted over. The quarterback took the snap and Harris snuck through the entire Texas A&M defense that had crashed for the run. Leavitt hit him in stride with no one within 20 yards and the Tigers were in full control at 21-3. Facing an immediate 3-and-out, Elko decided to go for it on 4th and 1 from their own 34 yard line. Davhon Keys, in for an injured Whit Weeks, burst through the hole and stuffed Carsyn Baker to force a turnover on downs. With their best starting field position of the night, Leavitt and the offense were looking for the knockout blow. They never faced a 3rd down, getting down to the 8 yard line with a 1st and goal. Following an incomplete pass, Landen Clark came on to the field for 2nd down. It had become clear that while Leavitt could throw, he wasn’t going to be able to run. No problem, because Clark juked a Texas A&M defender out of his cleats at the line of scrimmage and jetted around the left side to make the Aggies pay for their desperation decision. It was 28-3 and the Tigers were rolling. Badly needing something to go his way, Reed was sacked on the very first play of their drive by Princewill Umanmielen for a loss of 17, which effectively ended that drive. Fortunately for them, Leavitt was intercepted on the very next play after Sam M’Pemba got a piece of his arm on his throw, causing the ball to flutter right in to the waiting hands of Marcus Ratcliffe. With the ball in LSU territory for the first time in the second half, the Aggies picked up a few yards on a run, but followed with back-to-back incompletions. Looking for anything to go their way, Texas A&M opted for a 53 yard field goal by Olano, which he nailed to make it 28-6. Charlie Weis Jr’s offense came right back out in turbo mode, once again not facing a 3rd down all drive. Completions of 15 yards to Watkins and 36 yards to Harris quickly got the Tigers in to the redzone where they cashed in, yet again. It was Clark for the second time, coming in to the game on the goal line to run a QB keeper to extend the lead to 35-6. The night full of miscues continued for Texas A&M when Rueben Owens II called for a fair catch on the kickoff, but muffed it, downing the ball at their own 1 yard line. Carsyn Baker broke for a 10 yard run to give them some breathing room as time expired in the 3rd quarter. 3rd quarter summary Straight up domination is the only way to describe the start to the second half for LSU. They outscored Texas A&M 21-3 and outgained them 181 yards to just 17. Baker’s defense really ramped up the pressure on Reed, sacking him 3 times. Leavitt was clearly hobbled and basically throwing off of one leg, but somehow looked as good as he ever has while passing the ball. The sequence of the 4th and short Harris touchdown reception and the Aggies turning the ball over on downs in their own territory was essentially the end of the game. 4th quarter flow After the nice run to end the 3rd quarter, Texas A&M quickly found themselves with a 3rd and 15 from their own 6 yard line when Rees scrambled to his right and tried to force a ball in to coverage. Cooley made a nice catch on the sideline and kept his feet inbounds at the Aggie 19 yard line, then the secondary celebrated with the infamous Yell Leader dance right in front of the Yell Leaders. After getting down to the 8 yard line, LSU had to settle for a Scott Starzyk field goal attempt after Zach Grace dropped a sure touchdown. Shockingly, he missed the 24 yard chip shot. Reed’s struggles continued with more incompletions and more pressure. They waived the white flag when they punted on a 4th and 2. Landen Clark was back out for his second full drive after taking over following the Cooley interception, this time joined by Harlem Berry who was finally getting some opportunities. He looked good, notching runs of 18, 14, and 17 yards on the final few drives. Backup Aggie quarterback Brady Hart entered the game and was picked off on his first attempt by Michael Turner Jr. Clark, again, got the Tigers down inside of the 10 yard line, but once again was let down by his receiver. As time was running down, Kiffin let the offense throw the ball on 4th and goal, but Brown dropped an easy ball that hit him right in the numbers. Texas A&M took over and ran the ball once to let the time expire as LSU won 35-6. 4th quarter summary With this game being over in the 3rd quarter, this was mostly an opportunity for some of the 2’s, which rarely happens in an SEC game. Clark got to run the full offense for a few drives and Berry got some much needed carries. After not seeing any offensive snaps until the 4th quarter in any game so far in 2026, he moved up to RB2 and was also in the game earlier. With Stacy Gage unable to do much in that spot, Berry may have the chance to take hold of the backup job directly behind Dilin Jones. Although there was no scoring in the 4th quarter, the Tigers still managed to gain 99 yards of offense and 5 1st downs. Their 10:16 time of possession to close the game finally put the Aggies out of their misery. Final summary Lane Kiffin and his staff could not have asked for a better bounce back performance from his team. He mentioned in his post game interview that while last week may have been Ole Miss’s super bowl, it wasn’t theirs. They felt as if they blew a chance to complete a nice comeback and quickly turned their attention to Texas A&M. Aside from some first half miscues, the offense played very well, especially behind the arm of Sam Leavitt. That’s the first time this season that we’ve been able to credit his throwing more than his running. The injury turned out to be a slight hamstring pull, which he and Kiffin both revealed in post game pressers. He stated that he will be perfectly fine, but with a giant mismatch against McNeese coming this weekend, there’s a good chance that Leavitt and others get the week off to rest. With some of the other major injuries that LSU has already sustained, they have to play it safe. As for the defense, Blake Baker shut up every single doubter. The narrative that he can’t stop a mobile quarterback came to a screeching halt with his unit holding Marcel Reed to -13 yards rushing. Following the confusing soft coverage against the Rebels in Oxford, LSU got back to their agressive, physical man coverage. They looked like the defense that we expect and, quite frankly, had Reed in hell the entire night. Despite a massive SEC blowout win, the biggest story of the night was, unfortunately, bad news. The aforementioned Whit Weeks sustained a broken fibula in the 3rd quarter and had to leave the sideline in a boot and on crutches. He was seen being taken to the Football Ops building on a golf cart before the game ended. On Sunday, Lonn Phillips Sullivan of LSU Odyssey was the first to report the injury and that he was set to have surgery on Monday. We’ve since learned that his surgery went well and there is optimism of a potential return around the Alabama or Texas game in November. For now, LSU will turn their attention to their final non-conference opponent of the 2026 season, the McNeese Cowboys. The two will kick off on Saturday night in Death Valley for 6:45 pm. Stay tuned for a full game preview coming soon on The Kneaux. For more, follow me on X @DCBilliotJr