The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Texas A&M's Loss to the LSU Tigers

It was just about a night of nothing but uglies for Texas A&M in Baton Rouge Saturday night.

Texas A&M Aggies head coach Mike Elko walks on the field during a time-out during the first quarter against the LSU Tigers at Tiger Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

For the second straight weekend, the negatives heavily outweighed the positives for the Texas A&M Aggies, this time worse.

Much, much worse.

What should have been a rebound after a disappointing home loss to the Kentucky Wildcats instead turned into another 60 minutes of mediocrity and a 35-6 loss in Baton Rouge to the LSU Tigers.

In stark contrast to last year's contest against the Tigers, there was really no inkling of hope that the Aggies would come out on top, and throughout the course of the game, it simply just got worse and worse for the Maroon and White.

The Good: David Olano

The LSU Tigers take on the Texas A&M Aggies. September 19, 2026; Baton Rouge, LA, USA | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

The Aggies were able to put up six points, each coming off of a pair of field goals by placekicker David Olano, including a 53-yarder in the third quarter.

...and that's about all we can put in this category.

The Bad: The Offense

Whatever propelled the Aggies to their 49-25 win in last year's game against the Tigers did not carry over to this year's matchup.

The Aggies only mustered 197 total yards on offense, and quarterback Marcel Reed didn't show much of an improvement over his iffy performance last week against Kentucky.

Reed completed only 10 of his 26 pass attempts, including three of 11 in the second half, no touchdowns, and an interception late in the contest, another mediocre showing from Texas A&M's junior quarterback.

The team only put up 91 rushing yards, one less than they recorded last week against the Wildcats, and only mustered three first downs the entire second half after having eight in the first 30 minutes.

One might think that a game against the Arkansas Razorbacks next week would be a good game to get the rest of the team back on track, but they defeated the Tulsa Golden Hurricane by a hefty 34-6 today, and even almost upset A&M last year in Fayetteville.

And if tonight's A&M offense shows up next week at Kyle Field, it's going to be a long night for the Maroon and White.

The Ugly: Just About Everything Else

Penalties at the worst possible moments. Broken coverage on defense. A faulty run coverage from the get-go. Where shall we begin with the Aggies' loss?

The tandem of LSU wide receivers Winston Watkins Jr. and Jackson Harris combined for 11 catches, 270 yards, and two touchdowns on the night, both touchdowns coming from Harris, his first two touchdowns as a Tiger.

LSU combined for 506 total yards in the game and outdid the Maroon and White in just about every statistic in the book.

Contrary to the past two years, Marcel Reed's rushing was kept in check, and he was even sacked four times by the Tiger defense.

The Aggies had multiple big plays drawn back by penalties. A big gain to Kelshaun Johnson? Offensive pass interference. A first-down pass to Isaiah Horton? Ineligible receiver downfield. It was truly a night of one step forward and two steps back for the Aggies in all parts of the game.

It was a long night for Texas A&M from the opening kick, and now their chances of competing for any kind of conference or national championship are likely fully wiped away.

Texas A&M returns to Kyle Field to take on the Arkansas Razorbacks next Saturday.

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