Late TD lifts Tigers in Orgeron’s final game
BATON ROUGE, La. — When Texas A&M defensive end Micheal Clemons collected the last of his 3½ sacks late Saturday night, he figured the Aggies finally would celebrate a win at LSU as an SEC member.
“I was hoping so,” a dismayed Clemons said, drawing out his words. “I was hoping so.”
The hopes of Clemons and the Aggies, however, were dashed seven plays later on an impeccable pass with 20 seconds remaining in an SEC West rivalry game. Fisher has snapped a handful of unbecoming streaks in his four seasons at A&M. Winning at LSU is not one of them.
The Tigers defeated the No. 15 Aggies 27-24 in coach Ed Orgeron’s final game before 91,595 rowdy, appreciative fans. The Tigers (6-6, 3-5 SEC) earned bowl eligibility with the victory, and Orgeron said afterward he will not coach LSU in the postseason, turning that interim duty over to offensive line coach Brad Davis.
LSU athletic director Scott Woodward now is full steam ahead in his search for a replacement for Orgeron, but, for one night, Woodward could enjoy a final triumph by the Louisiana native he fired in midoctober, with the awkward agreement Orgeron would stay on through at least the regular season.
The Aggies had wiped out a 20-10 second-half deficit before some big-time dramatics courtesy of LSU to close out Orgeron’s tenure. Under tight pressure from A&M’S pass rush that collected six sacks, Tigers quarterback Max Johnson connected with Jaray Jenkins on a 28-yard touchdown pass along the right sideline for the winning touchdown with the 20 ticks on the clock remaining.
“They battled and we battled,” Fisher said. “And they made one more play than we did.”
Despite LSU possessing an 11-11 record over the past two seasons and myriad off-field issues, Orgeron is beloved in Baton Rouge for leading the Tigers to their fourth national title with a 15-0 record in 2019.
LSU whipped the A&M 50-7 in Tiger Stadium late in that season, and this contest had much more drama throughout. But the outcome was the same: an A&M loss on LSU’S home field.
“We always just kept (saying), ‘Keep on fighting, keep on fighting, and something good will happen,’ ” a jubilant Orgeron said afterward. “And it worked. What a way to end that game. … They fought, and something good is always going to happen when you fight like that.”
LSU has won all five meetings at Tiger Stadium since A&M joined the SEC in 2012. The Tigers also won their first three games at Kyle Field in the SEC series with Kevin Sumlin coaching the Aggies, but A&M has won the last two on its home field under Fisher.
The Aggies (8-4, 4-4 SEC) were trying to win for the first time in Tiger Stadium since 1994, when R.C. Slocum was A&M coach. The two programs, which heavily recruit Houston and East Texas, played a nonconference series from 1986-95.
The Aggies return to College Station to wait on their bowl destination, which will be announced in a week. A&M has finished 9-4, 8-5 and 9-1 in Fisher’s first three seasons and now
will either be 9-4 or 8-5.
The Aggies played without receiver Caleb Chapman, who has fought injuries for much of the past two seasons. In addition, A&M lost swift linebacker Edgerrin Cooper midway through the third quarter with an undetermined injury.
LSU jumped on the board on the game’s opening possession with a 50yard field goal by Cade York, and the Tigers added to their first-half lead with a 45-yard touchdown pass from Johnson to Jenkins — a duo that worked over A&M all night.
The Aggies cut into the 10-0 deficit with a 13-yard touchdown pass from Zach Calzada to Moose Muhammad III with 4:31 left until halftime. LSU quickly countered with a 61-yard catch-and-run by Trey Palmer from Johnson, and the Tigers led 17-7 at halftime.
A&M struck first in the second half with a 33-yard field goal by Seth Small, and York followed with a 47-yard field goal later in the third quarter to lift LSU to a 20-10 lead — before the real fireworks started in the fourth quarter of what’s become A&M’S biggest rivalry game.
A&M leaned on its swarming defense to stay in the game, and grabbed a brief lead in the fourth quarter when Calzada deftly eluded a pass rush and found receiver Jalen Preston along the left sideline. Preston did the heavy lifting from there, dodging and ducking 32 yards for a touchdown with 7:33 left in the game. The lead would not last.
Orgeron had one especially big booster on the LSU sideline in support of the deposed coach — former Tigers and NBA star Shaquille O’neal.
“I wanted to come and
see ‘Coach O’ for the last time (here),” O’neal said to ESPN during the game.
Fisher, a former LSU offensive coordinator under then-coach Nick Saban in the early 2000s, has been mentioned by a handful of media outlets as a candidate to replace Orgeron. But Fisher said he’d be “dumb” to leave what might be the nation’s toprated recruiting class in 2022 and then coach against those players in the SEC West.
The Aggies likely would have made the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Fla., or the Outback Bowl in Tampa, Fla., with a victory, but now will have to wait on a handful of other options depending on what happens Saturday in the SEC title game between Georgia and Alabama and whether both happen to make the fourteam College Football Playoff.
A&M in the preseason gave Fisher a raise to $9 million annually from $7.5 million and bumped his contract back to its original 10 years from four years ago. Both additions are scheduled to kick in Jan. 1.
One thing in particular the Aggies will need to work on in the offseason: catching passes. They had at least four drops, with the rocket-armed Calzada rarely easing up on a throw no matter its distance. Fisher said that’s no excuse on the part of his receivers.
“We made some really good plays, but we just had too many drops in key situations,” Fisher said. “… You’ve got to concentrate and focus and catch the ball. (Calzada) throws it like he does every day (in practice).”