Miles, defense offerwelcome
COLLEGE STATION — LSU coach LesMiles complimented Texas A& Mon its seemingly seamless adjustment to the Southeastern Conference— easy to do following the Tigers’ solid comeback victory.
“Texas A& Mdefinitely has an SEC environment already,” Miles said following LSU’s 24- 19 triumph in the teams’ first meeting as conference foes Saturday.
The national championship coach is no stranger to Kyle Field, having led Oklahoma State to a 38- 10 whipping of the Aggies in 2003, then- coach Dennis Franchione’s first season at A& M. Two years earlier, Miles’ OSU squad fell to R. C. Slocum’s Aggies 21- 7, only 11 days following the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001.
‘ A special place’
That game day, A& M fans wore red, white and blue T- shirts to correlate with the deck in which they sat, in an awe- inspiring show of patriotism. On Saturday, Kyle Field was simply rocking from the first kick, because the Aggies consider LSU their new rival.
“You can see this is a special place,” Miles said. “It’s loud and an advantage for the home team. We can win on the road in a hostile environment, and a win on the road in conference is good.”
The Tigers, as usual, were especially good on defense, in keeping dynamic A& Mfreshman quarterback JohnnyManziel out of the end zone for the first time.
“They’ve made life difficult on everyone they’ve played,” Texas A& M coach Kevin Sumlin said of the Tigers.
Manziel slowed
Manziel, who entered the game leading the SEC in rushing with 113 yards per game, was limited to 27 yards on 17 carries. Overall, Manziel had gained 50 rushing yards, but lost 23 by being tackled behind the line of scrimmage, including three sacks for a loss of 17 yards.
“A& Mcame out passing a lot, and they were trying to get the ball out ofManziel’s hands in a hurry,” said LSUdefensive end Barkevious Mingo, who accounted for a sack. “It wasn’t fun chasingManziel. We did a good job of it, but it wasn’t fun.”
The Tigers entered the game second nationally in total defense ( behind Alabama) but allowed the Aggies 410 yards, their most by 119 yards ( 291 vs. Towson on Sept. 29).
Still, A& Monly scored touchdowns in the first and fourth quarters, as LSU earned the upper hand in the new SEC rivalry.
“We saw JohnnyManziel on film,” LSU safety Eric Reid said, “and we saw him do some things we thought we could stop.”