Saturday's bout between Texas A&M and LSU will highlight two of the more talented teams in college football. Both find themselves in the top 20 of major power rating polls like K-Ford Ratings and ESPN's Football Power Index, routinely have some of the best recruiting classes in the country, and also had some of the best transfer portal rankings from this past cycle.
So ignore the trends, the records and the general vibe around both programs as we inch closer to kickoff. These teams are incredibly close in overall talent, but who has the decisive advantage? Let's take a deeper look at these rosters and find out who has the edge in positional battles between these two bitter rivals.
LSU's run game versus Texas A&M's run defense
The easiest battle to iron out lies between the Tiger rush attack and the Aggie run defense. LSU has the 117th-best run game in the country, finding just 112.9 yards on the ground per game, and they're equally hesitant to use it: Its 28.3 rush attempts per game is the fourth worst mark in the sport.
Offensive coordinator Joe Sloan has received fair criticism for his inability to commit to the ground game, but the results also show they can't fully rely on it. While they have topped 100 rushing yards in consecutive games, it's been more feast or famine as opposed to consistently grinding out yards.
Texas A&M hasn't been out of this world at stopping the run on the season, but they're still a top-50 group that's allowing just 126.86 yards per game at a clip of 4.07 yards per carry. A lot of that has to do with who they're playing — the potent ground games of Arkansas and Notre Dame have lit them up for an average of 202 yards per game, meanwhile the one-dimensional offenses of Auburn, Mississippi State and Florida have combined for just 203 total rushing yards on the Aggie defense.
Given the state of this LSU offense overall, I think performances like the ones Texas A&M showed us against Auburn, Mississippi State and Florida are more likely to occur than the ones against Arkansas and Notre Dame. So give me the Aggies in this one, bottling up an unsuccessful ground game while also putting this pass attack in a very tense situation.
The edge goes to ... Texas A&M