Instant Reaction: Texas A&M Football Falls Again in Baton Rouge

Texas A&M Football Continues Seesaw with Tigers

Things looked great at first for Texas A&M football in this game, as the Aggies came out with an absolutely stellar game plan. A drop by Max Wright on a fourth down throw had the hearts in the throats of the Maroon and White faithful, especially after LSU moved right down the field and scored on their next drive, but the way Jaylen Henderson and company came out in control, operating efficiently and effectively, had a lot of Aggie fans optimistic in the first half. Some top-notch clock management by Elijah Robinson at the end of the half gave the Aggies a 17-14 lead at halftime ahead of them receiving the ball out of the break.

Things looked to be picking up right where they left off at the beginning of the second half, as the Aggies had an efficient drive to go up by two scores for the first time in the game. However, things began to deteriorate from that point. The Tigers scored quickly, bringing it to 24-21. The Aggies put together another good drive, but missed a short field goal. They got a stop, but then Jaylen Henderson turned the ball over at midfield. The Tigers scored another touchdown, going up 28-24. Another drive stalled for the Aggies, and the Tigers scored again to go up 11. A&M was able to hit a big play touchdown to Max Wright, but LSU responded with yet another touchdown to go up 42-30. That was the final straw, as the Aggies were unable to convert on their next drive. The Tigers kneeled it out, and that was the end of things.

The spirit the Aggies showed coming into Death Valley and basically controlling the game on offense for 2.5 quarters was remarkable. Henderson looked shaken after the interception, however, and apart from the long TD to Max (where, let’s be frank, the senior TE did most of the work), he didn’t have any positive plays from that point on through the air. It is probably too much to expect your third string QB to excel for a whole game in his first road start, especially when that start was at LSU, but Jaylen was valiant in his play up until that point. All things considered, he is still impressing in his limited time and has played better than any of us could have expected.

The defense was able to control the pass game for the most part in the first half, but the second half saw the aerial attack for Daniels and the Tigers explode. The QB run was an issue all throughout the game, as it is for every team that squares off against LSU, but things were much more well in hand in the first period than the second. Tyreek Chappell going down with injury can’t have helped anything, but I liked what I saw out of Bravion Rogers. If the Aggies can hold onto Terry Bussey, he and Rogers would be quite the duo at corner in the future for Texas A&M football.

Overall, this one didn’t really hurt, honestly. With how the season has gone so far and in the midst of a coaching search, a win would have been a great cherry on top, but I didn’t expect it. I briefly talked myself into it in the middle of the week, but this was just a poor matchup for the Aggies. We’ll regroup and turn our total attention to the coaching search, as it seems as though a name will emerge here very soon.