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The LSU football team went on the road over the weekend to play Texas A&M, and first place in the SEC was on the line. Both the Tigers and the Aggies came into the game with undefeated conference records, so the winner would separate themselves at the top of the SEC standings all alone. After the first half, it looked like LSU was going to get the job done as Texas A&M get anything going offensively, and the Tigers led by 10 at the break. Everything changed in the second half.
LSU got out to a good start in this one as they opened the scoring in the first half with a field goal and then were able to find the end zone before the Texas A&M football team was on the board. It was 10-0 Tigers late in the first quarter, but the Aggies did respond with a late score to make it 10-7 heading into the second.
The second quarter was also won by the LSU football team as Texas A&M didn't score anymore before halftime. The Tigers found the end zone one more time and led 17-7 at the break, and things were looking good.
Texas A&M ending up making a quarterback change as things just weren't working with Conner Weigman, and they turned to Marcel Reed. The game completely changed with Reed in at QB. The third quarter was all Aggies, and Reed was a big reason why as he ran two touchdowns in to go up 21-17 heading into the fourth quarter.
Shortly into the fourth, Reed ran in a third touchdown to make it 28-17. All of a sudden, LSU was in major trouble. The Tigers finally had a response after Reed's third score as they went down and got it back to a one-score game, but this missed the two-point conversion try, making it a 28-23 game.
Texas A&M closed out a dominate second half performance with another touchdown drive, and then they added a late field goal as well to win the game 38-23. LSU was up 17-7 at halftime, but the Aggies outscored LSU 31-6 in the second half. Domination.
After the way that this game went with the drastic change in the second half and QB change, there's no one to blame but the coaches.
Did LSU football not prepare for Marcel Reed?
When the Texas A&M football team brought Marcel Reed into the game, everything changed, and the LSU football defense simply didn't have an answer. Reed threw just two passes in the game, but he was 2/2 for yards. He also ran the ball nine times for 62 yards and three touchdowns.
Based on the way that the game completely flipped when Reed came in, it makes you wonder: Did LSU game plan for Marcel Reed at all? He has played a lot this year and has shown that he is a talented QB, and the Tigers didn't seem to have any answer for him. Based on the way that he looked when Conner Weigman was injured earlier in the season, LSU should've known that there was a chance that he would play.
Brian Kelly and his staff were thoroughly out-coached in the second half of that game. Any time a team goes from up 10 at half to being outscored by 25 points in the second half, it usually means that the other team made much better adjustments and had a much better plan. That was the case on Saturday night.
Week nine recap
This LSU-Texas A&M game was one of the biggest games in the weekend, and it ended up being a good one. Let's go through a quick week nine recap to check out some of the other big games around college football.
Starting in the ACC, Pitt dominated Syracuse on Friday night to show that they are a legit threat in the conference. #6 Miami also easily took care of business against struggling Florida State. Lastly, SMU stayed perfect in conference play with an OT win over Duke. They will meet Pitt this week.
In the Big 12, #11 BYU stayed perfect with a big win over UCF on the road. Kansas State narrowly defeated Kansas in a close rivalry matchup to stay near the top of the conference standings. Lastly, Colorado continues to impress as they beat Cincinnati 34-23.
The Big Ten had a few good ones as well. #13 Indiana is still perfect after they beat Washington with College GameDay in attendance. #4 Ohio State barely survived a close scare from Nebraska as they had to overcome a fourth quarter deficit. #1 Oregon obliterated #20 Illinois as they look like clearly the best team in the conference. Michigan took down Michigan State for a much needed rivalry win, and Penn State went on the road and beat Wisconsin comfortably.
Lastly, in the SEC, we obviously had the big win for Texas A&M, but we also saw Alabama bounce back from last week's loss with a convincing shutout win over Missouri. Texas also bounced back from a loss as they beat Vanderbilt, but it was close as the final score was 27-24.
Week nine was fun, and we are ready to do it again in week 10.
