LSU toys with A&M
Published 7:00 pm Sunday, November 26, 2017
Tigers use balance to rout Aggies
BATON ROUGE — What in the world LSU was doing in a wild third-quarter shootout will be a riddle for learned pundits to decipher.
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But it worked out just fine for the Tigers, who dominated all but a small portion of the game but didn’t put away a 45-21 victory Saturday night until an offensive flurry in the late third and early fourth quarters.
LSU had a season-high 601 yards total offense, including a career-high 347 yards passing by Danny Etling, who in last game in Tiger Stadium threw for three touchdowns and had six completions of 28 yards or more.
The Tigers also rushed for 250 yards against their former defensive coordinator John Chavis, now with the Aggies.
Five Tigers scored touchdowns and two running backs went surpassed 100 yards — Derrius Guice with 127 and Darrel Williams with 106 — against an Aggies defense stacked against the run.
“We ran the ball well, didn’t let them run it,” said LSU head coach Ed Orgeron.
But it wasn’t quite as easy as a 601-282 advantage in total offense would suggest.
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Mystifying as it was, the Tigers didn’t put the Aggies away — apparently, at least; there had been false alarms earlier in the game — until Etling’s final touchdown pass, a 6-yarder to DJ Chark, put the Tigers up 42-21 early in the fourth quarter.
LSU punted twice — not at all in the first half — but a lot of points got misplaced on the way to the scoreboard and Texas A&M got rolling late in the first half.
“It was tooth and nail for a while there,” Orgeron said. “Coaches got these guys ready to play.”
Texas A&M scored late in the first half and after opening the second half with a 45-yard touchdown pass, twice pulled to within six points of the Tigers.
Back and forth it went.
But the LSU got the turnover it needed when Donte Jackson stepped in front of a Nick Starkel pass for an interception, setting up Etling’s scoring pass to John David Moore.
LSU (9-3, 6-2 SEC) finished Orgeron’s first regular season as heads coach winning six of its last seven games with its best SEC season record since 2012.
LSU will have a chance for its first 10-win season since 2013 when it learns its bowl destination next week.
“The chance to win 10 games means a lot to these seniors,” Orgeron said.
For Texas A&M (7-5, 4-4), the loss likely did little to help Kevin Sumlin’s shaky status as head coach.
LSU took a 20-7 lead into halftime that left Orgeron fuming — the Tigers’ domination felt it should have been a 30-point rout.
The Tigers never punted before the half and survived a lost fumble on the game’s first play with no damage done when Greedy Williams picked off Starkel three plays later.
Red-zone woes plagued the Tigers — along with two more missed field goal attempts.
It watered down the Tigers’ 343 yards of offense against 146 for the Aggies in the opening half.
The Tigers made six consecutive trips to the Aggies’ 30 or better, yet came up with 20 points.
Etling threw for 259 in the first half alone, including an 11-yard scoring pass to Russell Gage and long passes of 49 to Chark, 56 to Williams and 31 to Gage that set up LSU for scoring opportunities.
But the only other touchdown came on Williams’ 1-yard run and Jack Gonsoulin, taking over the kicking duties after Connor Culp struggled last week, missed two field goal attempts.
Gonsoulin looked strong in making his first two attempts from 46 and 33 yards, although the three points were downers after impressive drives bogged down.
Then Gonsoulin is shortest attempt, from 29 yards and, late in the half, another from 47 yards.
The Aggies had two first downs and hadn’t sniffed the LSU side of the field at the time, but a 31-yard Starkel completion to Christian Kirk set up a 2-yard scoring run by Trayon Williams to pull A&M with 13 at intermission.
LSU running back Derrius Guice carries as Texas A&M defensive back Armani Watts looks to make a tackle during the first half Saturday in Baton Rouge. Guice rushed for 127 yards on 28 carries.
