Wild game: Aggies top Tigers in 7 overtimes
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — With Texas A&M’s football game with LSU tied at 72-72 in the seventh overtime late Saturday night and the host Aggies set to attempt a 2-point conversion, receiver Kendrick Rogers was frantically being tended to on the sideline for severe cramps in his calves.
Rogers was able to get himself together just in time to get back in the game and grab Kellen Mond’s pass that gave Texas A&M a 74-72 victory in a marathon that tied the NCAA record for most overtimes in a Football Bowl Subdivision game.
He didn’t quit, and neither did the Aggies.
“These are moments you live for, so no matter what’s going on with your body, you want to be out there,” Rogers said. “So you just have to talk yourself out of it, just mentally fight through it.”
Mond connected with Quartney Davis on a 17-yard throw to tie the Southeastern Conference matchup at 72. LSU’s Greedy Williams was called for pass interference on the first 2-point conversion try, giving the Aggies (8-4, 5-3) another shot. After a false start by Texas A&M, Mond found Rogers for the conversion to end it, and throngs of fans rushed the field to celebrate.
“We showed as a team that we’re never going to quit, and we did that for four quarters and way more,” Mond said.
Joe Burrow had a 10-yard touchdown run to put LSU (9-3, 5-3) up 72-66 in the seventh OT, but his 2-point conversion throw failed.
“You had two teams out there refusing to lose, and we just made one more play,” Aggies coach Jimbo Fisher said.
The 74 points LSU allowed are the most ever given up by a ranked team, eclipsing the 73 No. 24 Fresno State gave up to Northern Illinois on Oct. 6, 1990, and the first seven-overtime game involving a ranked team. LSU dropped from No. 4 to No. 12 in the Associated Press poll released Sunday.
The 146 combined points are the most in an FBS game in NCAA history and the second-most in college football history behind the 161 points Abilene Christian and West Texas A&M scored in Abilene Christian’s 93-68 win in 2008.
“I lost track of overtimes … it is the craziest game ever,” said Fisher, looking a bit dazed.
Mond threw for 287 yards and six touchdowns, three 2-point conversions and ran for one touchdown as Texas A&M snapped a seven-game skid against LSU and got its first win over the Tigers since 1995.
LSU coach Ed Orgeron’s clothes might have already dried by the time this one ended after he was prematurely doused with the contents of a cooler after the Tigers appeared to have a clinching interception in the fourth quarter. But the play was reviewed, and it was ruled Mond’s knee was down before the throw, keeping the Aggies alive and setting up the wild finish.
“The momentum kept on changing both ways, and the guys responded,” Orgeron said. “That was one heck of an overtime; we just fell one play short. Our guys have nothing to be ashamed about — they fought, they fought hard.”
Burrow threw for three touchdowns and ran for three more as the Tigers were denied their first 10-win regular season since 2012 and likely knocked out of contention for a New Year’s Six bowl game.