Texas A&M football: 5 bold predictions for LSU
By Jeff Shull
Texas A&M football is in a must-win scenario for fans to feel good about the 2018 season; here are five bold predictions for the night game at Kyle.
Coming into the 2018 season, some speculated Texas A&M football would be able to finally beat LSU — they have yet to since joining the SEC, and haven’t since 1995 — mostly because LSU was not supposed to be as good this season. A 9-2 record, No. 7 ranking in the college football playoff, and four wins against Top 10 teams (when they played) later, and it’s still looking like a tall order.
However, things are different this year. Where LSU has rushed for 200+ yards in all six SEC matchups, Texas A&M finally has a rush defense this season. The most yards they’ve allowed is 143, and that included a 76-yard run by Nick Fitzgerald when a first down would have ended the game. The Aggies are No. 4 in the country at just 86.4 yards per game allowed.
It’s not the first time the Aggies have faced a run-dominant team with a matchup that looked good on paper. Mississippi State and Auburn, while both were favored, felt like they were ripe for the Aggie defense to dominate them. Those quarterbacks had other ideas.
Joe Burrow isn’t nearly as good as both of those quarterbacks, but there is still a chance LSU gets it done through the air. The Aggies have a terrible pass defense. It’s currently ranked No. 110 in yards allowed at 264.1. The secondary has dealt with injuries and unnecessary targeting penalties all year.
The Aggies are ranked No. 22 but are still favorites over the No. 7 Tigers. It’s strange considering how much LSU has dominated the matchup, but the oddsmakers must like this matchup on paper as much as I do.
With that said, here are five bold predictions for the Texas A&M vs. LSU game tonight. Big thanks to Robert Ford for his thoughts on a couple of these.