Sam Leavitt hit Jackson Harris twice for touchdowns — once for 57 yards on a Lane Kiffin fourth-and-short special — and No. 10 LSU defeated 23rd-ranked Texas A&M 35-6 on Saturday night.
Kiffin started sprinting down the sideline while Leavitt’s fourth-down pass was in the air, having seen the Aggies freeze on a play fake as Harris sprinted into the open down the middle of the field.
The LSU coach then put both hands over his shoulder and swung them down vigorously as if wielding a sledge hammer.
“That’s probably part of why we were hired here — that aggressiveness — and I almost didn’t do it,” Kiffin said, explaining that he was leaning toward punting because his defense had been playing well.
But then Kiffin decided, “That’s not how we roll. It’s not how we talk to our team, you know, being conservative.
“We go for it,” Kiffin added. “We take shots.”
The play put LSU (3-1, 1-1 SEC) ahead 21-3 in the third quarter and the Aggies (2-2, 0-2) did not threaten after that en route to their second straight defeat.
Aggies quarterback Marcel Reed struggled for a second straight game, completing 10 of 26 passes for 106 yards, with some passes landing nowhere near intended receivers. He also was intercepted by safety Tamarcus Cooley deep in A&M territory.
“We have to play better football. I just don’t know what else to say,” said Texas A&M coach Mike Elko, noting that his team was outgained 506 yards to 197. “We got to look at everything.”
Reed didn’t have many chances to throw comfortably. LSU applied pressure and kept him largely contained in the backfield — unlike the previous two times that Reed had faced LSU coordinator Blake Baker’s defense.
Last season, Reed quieted Death Valley with 108 yards and two TDs rushing to go with two more TDs passing in a 49-25 triumph that helped A&M earn a College Football Playoff berth.
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“Blake did a really good job of what good coaches do,” Kiffin said, noting that he and Baker spoke about LSU’s difficulty defending running QBs back in January. “They spend offseasons preparing for a specific game like this.”
Now, A&M looks like a longshot at best for the 2026 CFP and will all but certainly drop out of the AP Top 25.
Reed was sacked four times in his latest visit to LSU and did not account for any touchdowns. LSU edge rusher Princewill Umanmielen helped stall a third-quarter drive with his team-high seventh sack of the season.
“I am sure they knew I was effective running the ball the past two years,” Reed said. “Things didn’t open up like it did last year.”
The biggest concern for LSU’s defense was the sight of linebacker Whit Weeks hobbling to the locker room in a walking boot after an apparent ankle injury. Kiffin said he didn’t have an update on the severity of the injury.
LSU never trailed after Dilin Jones’ 1-yard TD run made it 7-0. Leavitt, who passed for 312 yards, gave LSU a 14-3 halftime lead with his first scoring pass to Harris, which covered 16 yards on a timing pass to the right corner.
Leavitt said he pulled a hamstring in the second quarter. He subbed out a few times in favor of backup Landen Clark, who rushed for touchdowns of 4 and 2 yards late in the third quarter.
Leavitt said he’ll be “just fine,” adding, “It kind of almost likes locks you in on a different level when you get a little hurt because you don’t have another option than distributing the ball.”
The takeaway
Texas A&M: In a pair of SEC games in the past two weekends, Reed has completed 36 of 75 passes for 342 yards and one TD against three interceptions. Elko came to Reed’s defense after the Aggies’ loss to Kentucky last week, but his comments were not validated by his QB’s latest showing. Reed was pulled in favor of Brady Hart in the fourth quarter.
“Right now, it’s bad,” Reed said. “We are at rock bottom, but we’ve got to dig ourselves out of this hole.”
LSU: There was no hangover for the Tigers after their loss at Mississippi in a hard-fought contest a week earlier. Although Leavitt was intercepted once, and for the sixth time this season, he had a number of pinpoint completions downfield, finishing 17 of 23 (74%) in what Kiffin described as a “really gutsy performance.”
Kiffin said he joked with Leavitt that his hamstring pull, “might have been the best thing that happened because he had to stay in the pocket and throw on time because he knew he couldn’t run.”
Up next
Texas A&M hosts Arkansas next Saturday.
LSU hosts McNeese State next Saturday.
READ MORE:POSTGAME REACTION: Leavitt’s accuracy and Kiffin’s 4th-down call ignite LSU in win over Texas A&M
