Ag Football Recap: LSU 23 v. A&M 17

In a game where our offense and defense were both abysmal, LSU somehow just squeaked by with a win at Kyle Field.

It actually started fairly quickly after we punted on our first possession.  LSU was moving the ball well on the ground before Davonte Harris stepped in front of a Tiger receiver to pick off the Anthony Jennings pass.  I don't understand why they were throwing the ball.  Clearly they did not watch film from our game against Mizzou.

Tra Carson had two 4 yard runs before Trey Williams broke off a 41 yard TD run right up the gut and all of a sudden we're up 7-0.

LSU again marches 70 yards down field on 12 plays but misses a FG.  This was a trend that was our only saving grace.  On the night, the Tigers had three drives of 5 min or longer and only ended up with 3 points out of those.

There was a weird play where Myles Garrett hit Jennings as he was dropped back and the officials blew the whistle and signaled an incomplete pass.  An LSU player had picked up the ball but didn't run because the whistle had blown and they had signaled it incomplete.  Then the head official said it was ruled a fumble but the play was blown dead on an inadvertent whistle.  Since the LSU player did not advance the ball because of the whistle they had a choice to replay the down from the previous spot or take the result of the play (which would put them at 4th and 1).  The instant replay confirmed that it was a fumble.  They chose to replay the 3rd down and, of course, converted.  Ultimately, the drive ended with a punt so there was no real damage other than TOP but it was just another example of the strange officiating.

The game was tied up at 7-7 after Leonard Fournette trucked Howard Matthews - it was one of those plays that is going to end up on highlight reels for years.  As a true freshman, Fournette scares me because we're going to see a lot of #7 over the next few years.

LSU scored again with 34 seconds left in the half.  Speedy then fumbled the KOR allowing the Tigers to stretch their lead to 10 with a quick FG.

The big quarter strikes again as LSU scored 17 points  in the 2Q as we gave up 140 yards rushing.  It didn't help that our offense only ran 7 plays in the quarter and had just 23 yards passing in the first half.

The first drive of the 3Q was one of LSU's big long drives I mentioned earlier - they ate up 7:35 of the clock but had to settle for a FG.

It wasn't until the 7 min. mark of the 3rd Q that we picked up our third first down of the game.  At the 2 min mark of the 3Q we finally take a shot throwing the ball down field, hitting Boone Niederhofer for 42 yards, and the offense starts to open up.  We get a gift of a pass interference call in the end zone that moves us down field and then another 10 yard completion to Speedy before having to settle for a FG.

Again, LSU chews up clock before missing another FG.  We're at the 10 min. mark of the 4th quarter at this point and Trey Williams gets his second carry of the night, picking up 22 yards.  Why on earth are we not giving him the ball more frequently in this game?

That is one of the bigger complaints about the offense this year - there is no rhyme or reason for which RB we have in and even when we do have someone doing well, we pull him and stick someone else in.

Anyways, Allen finds Speedy at the left pylon on a jump ball where Speedy just goes over the top of the DB and pulls it down to narrow the score to 20-17.  I swear, we get one "Did you see that?!?" play from him each week. 

LSU answered back with another FG before we get the ball with 2:07 remaining.  Davonte Harris was inches from blocking that FG - it either went over or under him as he leaped because it should have hit him in the stomach.

On our final drive, we moved the ball through the air to midfield fairly easily and then their DT jumps offsides so Mike Matthews quick snaps the ball and Allen takes a deep shot down field on the free play.  It gets picked off, but not a big deal because we'll just take the 5 yard offsides penalty.

Except there is no flag.  From any official.  I saw it from my seat at the game, the announcers saw it when they were calling the game, Matthews and Allen clearly saw it.  It was pretty disgusting. 

LSU took a knee and ran out the clock.

I'm not saying that the officials cost us the game, because they didn't, we played like garbage - but they certainly changed the outcome - whatever that might have been.  They were bad all game and that was the crescendo. 

It was the most rushing yards LSU had in a conference game since 2007 and both Fournette and Jennings ran for career highs.

And so the regular season comes to an end.  We will know our bowl fate next Sunday (12/7) but it looks like we will most likely be headed to Charlotte for the Belk Bowl (previously Queens City Bowl/Continental Tire Bowl/Meineke Car Care Bowl) or to Houston for the Texas Bowl.

The playoff picture going into the week had Alabama, Oregon, FSU, and Mississippi State in (in that order).  FSU held off a bad Florida team, Mississippi State lost to Ole Miss pretty badly, Oregon ran over Oregon State and then Bama played in a great game against Auburn - losing in the 3rd quarter to end up winning 55-44.  It was a heckuva Iron Bowl. It looks like one of TCU, Ohio State, or Baylor will take MSU's place going into the conference championship games next Saturday.

At lunch time on Friday, A&M announced that defensive coordinator, Mark Snyder, was relieved of duty and the internet rumors commenced as to who will the next DC handed the keys to turn this defense into something formidable. 

Will Muschamp was fired at Florida a couple of weeks ago, Bo Pellinin was fired this morning at Nebraska - it looks like South Carolina and Auburn will be joining us in our search for a new DC.  There are rumors that Clemson's Dabo Sweeny will take over for Muschamp so his DC, Brent Venables's name is also being shopped about (his OC, Chad Morris just took the SMU HC job).

Muschamp is the belle of the ball so it will be interesting/fun/stressful to see how this plays out over the next couple of weeks.