The Georgia State Panthers kept things interesting in the first couple of drives last Saturday but LSU refused to take their foot off the gas as the Tigers came out on top 56-14. Jayden Daniels padded his stats in the game as he completed 25 out of 30 passes for 413 yards and threw six touchdowns. The Heisman hopeful was also the leading rusher with 96 yards on 10 carries and two more scores on the ground.
Next up for LSU, the Tigers will wrap up the 2023 regular season with a home game versus Texas A&M. The Aggies will trot out a familiar face at quarterback for Tigers fans and will be led by their interim head coach after Jimbo Fisher was fired.
Since losing to Ole Miss, LSU has won five out of their last six matchups to move to 8-3 while the Aggies have lost three out of their last six games and are now 7-4 on the season.
This game between the LSU Tigers and Texas A&M Aggies will be played on Saturday, November 25th. Kickoff at Tiger Stadium is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. and the action can be heard on ESPN 103.7 Lafayette 104.1 Lake Charles, Southwest Louisiana’s Sports Station.
WATCHING OUT FOR AWARDS
Despite LSU having three losses on the season, quarterback Jayden Daniels has a legit case and is now the betting favorite on some sports books to win the Heisman Trophy. This comes with Daniels recording almost 4,600 yards of offense (3,577 passing, 1,014 rushing) and putting up 46 touchdowns (36 passing, 10 rushing) on the season.
Daniels’ main competition to this point is Oregon quarterback Bo Nix has thrown for 3,539 yards and 35 touchdowns compared to two interceptions. Nix has also scored himself five times and has led the Ducks to a 10-1 record.
There is another player on offense for the Tigers who has a real case of winning a big-time award. Junior wide receiver Malik Nabers has good odds of winning the Biletnikoff Award as he is at or near the top in all major receiving categories, being first in yards and receiving yards per game. The Comeaux High School product is sixth in receptions per game and fourth in touchdowns. Nabers’ big competition in this race is Ohio State’s Marvin Harrison Jr. Others like Washington’s Rome Odunze, Oregon’s Troy Franklin, and others have +3000 odds and higher.
NO MORE JIMBO
The Aggies made the move to buy out the rest of Jimbo Fisher’s contract with A&M, the largest in college football history. Fisher was fired on November 12th, the day after the Aggies beat Mississippi State 51-10. That loss by the Bulldogs forced the program to move on from first-year head coach Zach Arnett.
Fisher coached for Texas A&M from 2018 to the 2023 season and finished with a 45-25 record. In none of those years did the Aggies meet their expectations and finish with more than nine wins in a single season.
Elijah Robinson has now taken over as the interim role and led the Aggies to a 38-10 win over Abilene Christian last Saturday. Before getting the job to be an assistant coach in 2018 at A&M, Robinson helped coach at Penn State (graduated a Nittany Lion), Temple, and Baylor. Now Robinson looks to finish the regular season with a 2-0 record as the head man of the Aggies’ program.
GENERATING PRESSURE
Former LSU left-handed quarterback Max Johnson will make his return to Tiger Stadium on Saturday. So far this season, Johnson and other Texas A&M signal callers have been sacked a total of 23 times (Johnson 14 times) while LSU has sacked the opposing quarterback 22 times.
On the other side, Daniels has been sacked 20 times compared to the Aggies, who have generated 40 sacks on the opposing team this season. Edgerrin Cooper leads the way with seven sacks on the season while five other A&M defenders have recorded at least three sacks.
LSU will need to put pressure on Johnson throughout the game to relieve a secondary that has struggled due to a multitude of circumstances.
SERIES RECORD: LSU leads
Last 5 Meetings:
2022: Texas A&M 38 – LSU 23
2021: LSU 27 – Texas A&M 24
2020: Texas A&M 20 – LSU 7
2019: LSU 50 – Texas A&M 7
2018: Texas A&M 74 – LSU 72 7OT
STAT LEADERS
LSU
Jayden Daniels: 220-of-303, 3,577 yards, 36 TD, 4 INT
Jayden Daniels: 124 carries, 1,014 yards, 10 TD
Malik Nabers: 80 catches, 1,424 yards, 12 TD
Harold Perkins Jr: 5 sacks
Greg Penn III: 74 tackles (29 solo)
Andre Sam: 3 INT
Damian Ramos: 12-of-15 Field Goals, Long of 48
Texas A&M
Max Johnson: 118-of-190, 1,452 yards, 9 TD, 5 INT
Amari Daniels: 92 carries, 505 yards, 5 TD
Ainias Smith: 45 catches, 736 yards, 2 TD
Edgerrin Cooper: 7 sacks
Edgerrin Cooper: 75 tackles (36 solo)
Josh DeBerry: 2 INT
Randy Bond: 22-of-30 Field Goals, Long of 52