GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
No. 5 Georgia won at No. 1 Texas on Saturday to get to No. 2 in the nation at 6-1 overall and 4-1 in the Southeastern Conference and knock the Longhorns down to No. 5 at 6-1 and 2-1 in the SEC.
But the Bulldogs nearly lost to sliding Kentucky (3-4, 1-4 SEC) and have a loss at No. 15 Alabama (5-2, 2-2), which has a loss at Vanderbilt and at Tennessee over its last three games.
No. 25 Vanderbilt (5-2, 2-1 SEC) is ranked for the first time since 2013 at No. 25 and is off to its best start since 2008, but it has a loss to struggling Georgia State, which is 2-4 overall and 0-3 in the Sun Belt.
Tennessee (6-1, 3-1 SEC) beat Alabama Saturday and rose four spots to No. 7 in the nation, but it lost to unranked Arkansas (4-3, 2-2 SEC) two weeks ago and had to go to overtime to beat Florida last week. The Vols have also not scored in the first halves of their last three games.
The two SEC teams playing the most consistently well meet Saturday night (6:30 p.m., ABC) in College Station, Texas, when No. 8 LSU (6-1, 3-0 SEC) meets No. 14 Texas A&M (6-1, 4-0 SEC). Neither has lost a game since opening weekend – the Tigers, 27-20, to now-unranked USC (3-4, 1-4 Big Ten) in Las Vegas, and the Aggies, 23-13, to now-No. 12 Notre Dame (6-1).
LSU-TEXAS A&M: BATTLE OF THE UNDEFATED IN SEC PLAY
No other SEC teams are undefeated.
“Texas A&M is very similar to what our team has been doing,” LSU coach Brian Kelly said Monday at his weekly press conference. “We lose the opener. They lost their opener. We’ve each played better and better each and every week.
LSU and Texas A&M have met 62 times in football sine 1899, including 12 times since the Aggies joined the SEC before the 2012 season. The two neighboring programs have met in two major bowl games – the Orange Bowl in the 1943 season and the Cotton Bowl in the 2010 season. But in neither case was a national champion decided upon because of the outcome. Neither team was even ranked when LSU beat the Aggies, 19-14, on Jan. 1, 1944, at the Orange Bowl. And neither was in the top 10 when LSU beat A&M, 41-24, on Jan. 7, 2011, at the Cotton Bowl.
“There’s a lot to play for,” Kelly correctly said of this next meeting. “We’re excited about the challenge.”
Saturday night’s game will be the first that actually means something in any kind of standings or polls as it could decide, or help decide, which team reaches the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta on Dec. 7. Or, more importantly, it could decide, or help decide, which of the two reaches the new 12-team College Football Playoff, unless both make it, or neither do. The Aggies are a 2.5-point favorite at home, where they have beaten the Tigers three straight.
One team will be left undefeated and on a seven-game winning streak in prime position for the playoffs.
“I think the one thing that is so important to point out, and if you just look at the teams around college football,” Kelly said. “Everybody’s looking for, how can they be consistent? How can they be the same team week in and week out?”
LSU AND TEXAS A&M HAVE FOUND CONSISTENCY
LSU and Texas A&M have done that. It has not always been pretty, but each has continued to win where the other SEC powers have not.
“For us, it’s about our preparation and our process,” said Kelly, whose team has played its best over the last two weeks in wins over then-No. 9 Ole Miss, 29-26 in overtime and, 34-10, at Arkansas on Saturday. Before that, LSU looked sloppy at times in wins over Nicholls State, South Carolina away, UCLA and South Alabama.
Texas A&M won at Florida by two touchdowns, beat Bowling Green by only 26-20, but blew out now-No. 21 Missouri (6-1, 2-1 SEC) by 41-10 at home before a 34-24 win at lowly Mississippi State (1-6, 0-4 SEC) on Saturday.
“It’s the consistent application of what we do and how we do it,” Kelly said. “And then turning that over to performance. So whether it’s a 4-team, 12-team playoff, that really doesn’t come into the equation. How we prepare will be the focus. Are we going to prepare as well as we did last week? And if we do, then we will perform equal to that.”
And should LSU get by the Aggies, it will likely be favored in its remaining games against Alabama on Nov. 9 after an open date, followed by Florida (4-2, 2-2 SEC) away, Vanderbilt and Oklahoma (4-3, 1-3 SEC).
Suddenly, both LSU and Texas A&M have gone from being doubted early to praised.
“I think there have been enough players that have been down this road before,” Kelly said when asked about handling the two situations.
The Tigers followed Kelly’s biggest win at LSU in 2022 over No. 6 Alabama with a 38-23 loss as the No. 6-ranked team to a 4-7 Texas A&M three weeks later that ended their playoff hopes. LSU’s slim playoff hopes ended last year when the No. 13 Tigers lost at No. 8 Alabama, 42-28, following three straight wins.
“They understand that this is a week-to-week thing,” Kelly said. “You win a game, and everybody thinks you’re great. You lose a game, and everybody thinks you’re a bum. So, our guys stay in the present. They understand how important it is to stay grounded and focused on what can they control. Whatever people are saying, we’ve already covered it with them. If we do a good job with our preparation, then good things usually happen.”
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