A&M closest thing LSU has to rival

Published 7:00 pm Wednesday, November 22, 2017

The latest crazy twist in the SEC coaching carousel comes from Auburn.

Yes, it’s only in the SEC, where seemingly every school is checking the buyout clauses in head coaching contracts in the eternal quest to land the whale that might compete with Nick Saban at Alabama.

It makes for tense news conferences in November. 

But at Auburn, it’s the school — not head coach Gus Malzahn — that’s on pins and needles in advance of Saturday’s Iron Bowl game with Alabama.

You’ll recall reports that Malzahn was as good as fired after blowing that 20-point lead and losing to LSU in early October.

They were probably true (at the time).

But now Malzahn is back in good graces and a swell fellow who appreciates a good Waffle House.

Yet if you listen to the scuttlebutt, there is speculation (guesses on deep background) that unless Auburn beats Alabama this week, Malzahn may bolt Auburn and return to his roots to take the Arkansas job. It would be inconvenient to do it if preparing Auburn for the SEC championship game and possible spot in the CFP.

Never mind that the Arkansas job is not currently open, the demise of Bret Bielema seems like a foregone conclusion (done deal, beyond hopeless).

So, yes, in a remarkable and somewhat refreshing turnabout, it’s the school and the team that’s on the hot seat and may be fired by the coach.

Meanwhile, Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin may well be coaching for his job in the more traditional sense at LSU Saturday night.

Of the flaming coaching seats in the SEC — three already vacated to avoid the Black Friday stampede — Sumlin’s is the only one that was officially ignited, on the record, by his athletic director, Scott Woodard, who last spring announced that Sumlin “knows he has to win and he has to win this year.”

That was after three consecutive 8-5 seasons, so “win” did not necessarily mean a mere winning record.

Right now the Aggies are 7-4.

You can do the math.

Sumlin was asked Tuesday if he expected to be the Aggies’ head coach next year.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” he answered.

Well, coach, give you a hint.

Three letters.

Starts with “L.”

Followed by “S.”

Ends with “U.”

Pretty easy to spell.

That’s probably oversimplistic. But the Aggies’ current frustration with Sumlin is as much LSU-related as anything.

A few years ago, Les Miles came with up with the fool notion that the Aggies and Tigers should play for something besides grins and giggles, like maybe oil wells. He suggested a giant oil rig wrench of some sort, as if “The Boot” that cheapens the Arkansas rivalry wasn’t heavy enough.

Cooler heads prevailed on that one.

No matter. LSU would have owned it, probably broken something in College Station with it.

Since joining the SEC for the 2012 season, LSU is the lone West Division school that the Aggies haven’t beaten (and they took care of Alabama the very first year, probably thought it would be a cakewalk).

So LSU is 5-0 against the Aggies in those five years.

No wonder the Tigers wanted to get a head start. There was a tune-up for the conference rivalry called the 2010 Cotton Bowl where LSU beat the still-Big 12 Aggies 41-24.

Texas A&M joined the SEC anyway.

So it’s actually six consecutive LSU wins, all told.

Before that bowl game, back in the mid-1980s to 1990s during a 10-game home-and-home contract, A&M had beaten the Tigers five times in a row.

And to think that the conventional wisdom was that LSU would be hurt the most by Texas A&M joining the SEC.

Being in the SEC, they said, meant the Aggies might shut down LSU’s recruiting pipeline into East Texas. Lone Star players could play in the big, bad SEC without crossing the Sabine for class.

Instead, according to the 247/7sports website, which has the time and inclination to cover such trivia, over the last four years, LSU has signed as many of Texas’ top 10-ranked players as both Texas A&M and the Texas Longhorns, and more than any other Texas school.

The Aggies were also there for LSU when the school suddenly needed an excuse to backtrack and keep Miles around following the 2015 game (LSU 19, A&M 7).

Bad blood. A good rivalry needs it, and A&M provided it when Sumlin stole (hired) popular defensive coordinator John Chavis from the Tigers. These days Chavis is only popular in Louisiana with lawyers getting rich as the dueling lawsuits fly back and forth over the border like mortar shells. 

But on the field, last year LSU scored 54 points on their old coach’s A&M defense. You couldn’t make this stuff up.

LSU was even immune to the Johnny Manziel pixie dust.

Johnny Football probably played his two worst college games against the Tigers.

He was still so fascinating to watch you couldn’t take you eyes off him. But in A&M’s first game against LSU as an SEC member, he was responsible for five turnovers — three interceptions and two fumbles. 

LSU played awful that day and won 24-19.

The next year in Baton Rouge, Manziel completed only 16 of 41 passes with two more picks as LSU rolled 34-10.

So, no, it doesn’t really matter if the Aggies becomes the true end-of-season blood rivals LSU never had.

The Tigers are just happy to have them in the SEC.