​

Marcel Reed owns LSU.

A year after rushing for three touchdowns after coming off the bench in the second half against the Tigers, the Texas A&M QB ran for two TDs and threw two more in the No. 3 Aggies’ 49-25 win over No. 20 LSU in Baton Rouge.

Advertisement

Reed firmly placed himself in the thick of the Heisman discussion despite throwing two interceptions. He opened the scoring with a 41-yard TD run and added a 5-yard score to start the second half as the Aggies ran away from the Tigers in the final 30 minutes.

LSU led 18-14 at halftime thanks to a blocked punt for a safety in an 11-point second quarter. After that, the Tigers were blitzed. A&M scored 21 points in the third quarter and blew the game open on KC Concepcion’s 79-yard punt return.

The Tigers punted on the possession after Concepcion’s score, and A&M turned it into a rout when Reed found Jamarion Morrow for a 24-yard TD.

Advertisement

LSU’s offense simply couldn’t keep up, as it was clear that QB Garrett Nussmeier was still significantly hampered by the torso injury that’s plagued him all season. Nussmeier couldn’t drive the ball down field and was also constantly hit by the Aggies’ defensive front. Nussmeier was sacked five times as he officially lost 44 yards rushing with his sacks factored in. The loss was so bad that Nussmeier left the game with five minutes remaining after that fifth sack.

LSU again failed to score more than 24 points in a game against an FBS opponent. LSU’s scoring average against top-level teams ranks outside the top 100 in college football and hampers the Tigers when the defense cannot stop an opponent.

And LSU’s defense has had a hard time against running quarterbacks in recent weeks. Reed finished with 108 rushing yards on just 13 carries. In Week 8, Vanderbilt’s Diego Pavia rushed 17 times for 86 yards. Two games before Pavia led Vanderbilt to a win over LSU, Ole Miss QB Trinidad Chambliss had 14 carries for 71 yards.

Brian Kelly famously said that he came to LSU to win a national title. Let’s be blunt: He was closer to winning a national title at Notre Dame than he is at LSU.

Advertisement

The Tigers have now lost at least three games in each of Kelly’s four seasons in Baton Rouge. Ed Orgeron, the coach Kelly replaced, lost at least three games in four of his five full seasons in charge. And he still got fired despite the other season resulting in a national championship with one of the best teams in modern college football history.

We’re not calling for Kelly to be fired — even if ESPN’s audio picked up “Fire Kelly” chants at the end of the game — but it’s worth wondering just how far LSU is from that 2019 championship season. The Tigers look to be the ninth-best program in the 16-team SEC at the moment.

LSU was flying high after a 17-10 road win at Clemson in Week 1. But those ACC Tigers have turned out to be far worse than we imagined and so are Kelly’s SEC Tigers.

Saturday night’s defeat was a touchdown with 59 seconds remaining away from being the worst loss of Kelly’s tenure. Instead, that worst loss still remains the Tigers’ 42-13 defeat to Alabama in 2024. And after a bye week in Week 10, the Tigers travel to Tuscaloosa.