College GameDay hosts pick LSU-Texas A&M winner, and predict an upset

College football's game of the week comes from the SEC, and the guys on College GameDay see an upset when LSU and Texas A&M square off this weekend.

College GameDay locks in their prediction for the LSU vs. Texas A&M game this weekend. | Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Texas A&M, the last remaining undefeated team in the SEC, will put its perfect record on the line against LSU on the road in one of college football’s three ranked-on-ranked matchups on Saturday, and the College GameDay podcast hosts have locked in their prediction.

LSU has won 10 of the last 14 meetings with Texas A&M, and the consensus of opinion around College GameDay is that they’ll make it 11 this weekend.

“I’m gonna take LSU,” college football analyst Pete Thamel said.

“I’ve just got a feeling that this team and Garrett Nussmeier, pushed to the brink, is going to respond in a positive way. This would include finding a way to combo to get a couple of scoring drives. So I’m going to take the Tigers.”

LSU could use a pick-me-up, falling to 5-2 following a loss against a resurgent Vanderbilt team last weekend, with the program’s more critical fans starting to wonder aloud if the end of the Brian Kelly tenure is approaching.

Perhaps as a result of LSU’s struggles up to now, they emerged as a narrow underdog for the second-straight week.

Texas A&M was named a 2.5 point favorite against the Tigers on the road, according to the latest game lines posted to FanDuel Sportsbook.

Rece Davis backed up Thamel’s prediction, expecting the Tigers to win their first game against a top-three ranked opponent under Kelly, but acknowledged how well the Aggies look right now.

“I think A&M is really good and think they have, all due respect to Indiana’s win over Oregon and Alabama’s win over Georgia, the best win of the season: they won at Notre Dame,” Davis said.

“I think they’re one of the five, six best teams in the country, so certainly the Aggies have proven they can go on the road against a good team and win. Notre Dame is better than LSU, but LSU is a good team. I’m gonna go LSU. Desperation. Have to have it.”

Offenses usually go off in this series, most notably in the famous 74-72 result in a seven-overtime classic back in 2018, a game that pushed college football to change its overtime rules.

And since 2011, the winner of this game has scored at least 30 points in seven meetings.

Points are something that LSU’s offense have so far failed to find a lot of, despite coming into this season branded as one of the nation’s most dynamic offensive units.

LSU is averaging under 21 points per game in SEC competition so far this season, and its 24 points in the loss to Vanderbilt represent a season-high for the team in conference play.

Texas A&M is playing some of its best football in recent memory, debuting at the No. 3 position in the AP rankings, its highest in a generation, and is 7-0 for the first time since 1994.