Marcel Reed ran in two touchdowns and passed for another two as he led the Aggies to another huge SEC win to keep their undefeated season intact.
BATON ROUGE, La. — Coming off of their first 7-0 start since 1994, the Texas A&M Aggies look to continue their magical season and stay atop of the SEC as the only undefeated team in the conference.
Up to this point, the Aggies have knocked down every obstacle that would’ve stalled their season in years past. The next wall to run through is a solid LSU team that is ranked 20th in the nation, which gives them a chip on their shoulder and all of the self-motivation needed to beat the #3 team in all the land.
A&M players and head coach Mike Elko know they can’t just lay down and be happy with how the season has gone to this point and need to be more focused than ever, especially going into the always-ruckus Death Valley just across state lines.
Last season against the Tigers, Reed ran all over their defense and ran in three rushing touchdowns to lead his cadets to a 38-23 victory and looks to utilize his legs again in their 2025 matchup.
Under Bryan Kelly, the Tigers are 20-1 in home night games and the Aggies are looking to add to that loss column Saturday night.
Lets hop into the action!
Cashius Howell cashed out early and embraced the noise in Death Valley after sacking LSU QB Garrett Nussmeier on the third play of the game, causing Kelly to burn an early timeout as the Tigers looked rattled by the Aggies’ stout defense less than two minutes into the first quarter.
The timeout proved to not do much as the very next play Nussmeier threw an incompletion with no one in sight, forcing the Tigers to punt of their first possession of the game.
On the other side of the ball, Marcel Reed and the offense wasted no time getting on the scoreboard after the o-line split LSU’s front like the red sea, setting up Reed for a 41-yard scamper before diving into the endzone for one of the best runs of his career. (7-0)
Nussmeier responded and rode the back of Trey’Dez Green all the way down the field before capping the drive with a contested touchdown catch for the Tigers first score of the game. (7-7)
On the Aggies’ next drive, Reed connected with one of his favorite targets KC Concepcion several times but none bigger than his 15-yard touchdown grab to give A&M the lead before the curtains closed on the first quarter of this already back-and-forth bout. (14-7)
The next possession did not look like the dominant Aggies we had seen the first few times they had the ball after what should’ve been a three-and-out, became a safety for the Tigers when Jhase Thomas blocked A&M’s punt into the back of the endzone. (14-9)
That hiccup didn’t affect the defense as they continued to pressure Nussmeier and forced another punt to give the offense a chance to redeem their last possession.
Redshirt freshman Ashton Bethel-Roman made an instant SportsCenter Top 10 one-handed catch to get the Aggies in scoring position before Reed forced the ball into rush-hour traffic in the back of the endzone that ended up in the paws of the Tigers.
LSU capitalized on Reed’s mistake by answering with an 8-play scoring drive capped off by a 7-yard touchdown run from Damian Ramos for the Tigers’ first lead of the game. (14-15)
When the Aggies got the ball back, the drive started off promising before a pass from Reed was batted into the air and snagged by an LSU defender, notching Reed’s second interception of the night.
The Tigers were able to add a field goal to extend their lead to four before intermission. (18-14 | HALF)
The two turnovers and blocked punt for a safety contributed to 11 of LSU’s 18 first-half points.
Terry Bussey II lit a fuse under the aggies after he almost took the 2nd half opening kickoff to the house before he was shoelace tackled by the kicker.
Reed gave his arm a break after back-to-back turnovers to end the first half and utilized his legs to carry the offense down the field and into the endzone for his second rushing touchdown of the day. (21-18)
After the Aggies forced the Tigers to punt for the fourth time of the night, Concepcion decided to finish what Bussey couldn’t and returned the punt for a 79-yard touchdown to extend A&M’s lead halfway through the 3rd quarter. (28-18)
The return made Concepcion the first Aggie since 2016 to have multiple punt return TDs in a single season.
The Aggies began to run away with it late in the third after Reed dished off a screen pass to Jamarion Morrow for another score as A&M started the second half by scoring 21 unanswered points. (35-18)
Make that 28 unanswered points as the Aggies continued to whoop the Tigers in the second half after their TE Nate Boerkircher turned into a running back and bullied his way across the goal line on the second play of the final frame. (42-18)
Texas A&M has now scored 40+ points in five of their eight games this season, and 40 points in four straight road matchups. Which is the most in program history.
The A&M offense capped off their dominant night with 35 unanswered points after a nifty run from Morrow led to his second touchdown of the game, (49-18)
Marcel Reed ended the game as the leading rusher with two touchdowns on the ground and two through the air as he continues to quietly add to his Heisman resume.
Cant forget about the defense who notched seven sacks and shutout the Tigers’ offense in the second half until the final minute when second-string guys were in for both teams. (49-24 | FINAL)
Texas A&M will travel to Missouri for the final game of their road stint before heading back to College Station to play in front of the 12th Man, hopefully still undefeated and inching closer to becoming the #1 ranked team in all of College Football.