No. 8 LSU visits No. 14 Texas A&M in a matchup of the last two undefeated teams in SEC play

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) – LSU coach Brian Kelly didn’t need to be reminded how tough it is to play at Kyle Field as his eighth-ranked Tigers prepared for Saturday’s visit to the night at No. 14 Texas A&M in a matchup of the last undefeated teams in the Southeastern Conference.

He only had to think back two years to his first season with the Tigers when they finished sixth ahead of the unranked. Aggies upset them 38-23 in College Station to dash their College Football Playoff hopes.

“Yeah, we learned a lot about the different places in this league,” Kelly said. “I think when you go to A&M, like you come to Tiger Stadium, they separate and you have to prepare for that type of environment and block out those distractions because if you don’t, they’re going to affect the outcome of certain games. “

Both teams have won six straight after dropping their openers and became the only undefeated teams in the SEC after Georgia’s win at Texas last Saturday. LSU is 3-0 in SEC play and Texas A&M is 4-0.

The Aggies, who are in their first season under coach Mike Elko following the firing of Jimbo Fisher, are looking for a win as they chase their first appearance in the SEC Championship Game.

“It’s going to be an opportunity for us to come out and prove that we belong on this stage and take this program where we all thought we wanted it to go,” Elko said. “They are a great team. We are a talented team. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

The Aggies expect a crowd of more than 100,000 as they look for their second straight home win against a top-10 team after a 41-10 rout of then-No. 9 Missouri on Oct. 5.

It will be LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier’s second trip to Kyle Field after visiting as a backup in that game in 2022. He’s trying to focus on his team and how the Tigers can improve this week.

“Obviously, we recognize it’s going to be a tough environment, a tough place to play,” he said. “It’s going to be strong. It’s going to be exciting … it’s so easy to get caught up in the extracurriculars of what this game means and all the different things that go into it. We can think about it all week and then lose the football game and not will matter.”

No cupcakes

Kelly cautions against judging Nussmeier by his roughly 55 percent (69-of-125) completion rate through the Tigers’ three SEC games.

Kelly said LSU’s passing scheme this season tends to favor a progression of downfield reads, which can make the Tigers tough to defend, even if some of those throws are harder to make. complete than screen passes or shorter controls.

“You’re not going to get some of the cupcake tosses that keep the chains moving in other offenses,” Kelly said. “So the percentages tend to go down a little bit because of that. But we think that’s a better fit for Garrett in terms of what he does. And it’s worked out pretty well for our offense.”

In fact, Nussmeier’s 317.4 yards per game ranks seventh nationally and leads the SEC with 18 touchdown passes.

Running Aggies

The Aggies, led by Le’Veon Moss, rank 13th in the nation with a 218.6 rushing yard average. The LSU defense ranks 33rd in allowing just 114.9 rushing yards per game.

The Tigers gave up just 38 rushing yards in last week’s win over Arkansas and held UCLA to a season-low 14 on Sept. 21. Moss ranks second in the SEC with an average of 96.3 yards per game and has eight rushing touchdowns.

Penalties of the procedure

Knowing they’ll be playing in one of the toughest road facilities in college football, LSU’s offense has been examining a slew of early penalties that occurred at Arkansas last week.

“I don’t know if we should freak out and act like this is a new thing that’s going to kill us,” Nussmeier said. “At the same time, it was unacceptable. So we have to fix it.”

run hard

Freshman Caden Durham, LSU’s leading rusher, isn’t quite healthy. He leads the Tigers with 382 rushing yards and eight total touchdowns in six games since receiving no carries in the season-opening loss to Southern California.

Kelly said Durham is “playing 80 to 85 percent” because of a foot injury suffered during the Sept. 28 win over South Alabama.

“Injuries are tough to deal with at any position,” Kelly continued. “When you’re a runner and you have an injury and you’re still fighting, I think it says a lot about the young man and I’m very proud of him.”

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AP Sports Writer Brett Martel contributed to this report.

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