SWAMPED IN BATON ROUGE
Burrow, Tigers deliver a quick kill to avenge last year’s seven-overtime loss to Aggies
BATON ROUGE, La. — LSU honored its seniors Saturday night before taking on Texas A&M, and quarterback Joe Burrow trotted out in a white Tigers jersey emblazoned with “Burreaux” across the back.
An appreciative crowd roared as the Midwesterner honored his beloved Cajun brethren with the faux jersey — he switched back to his real one before kickoff — and then Burrow and the Tigers proceeded to administer a stunningly authentic smashing of the Aggies at Tiger Stadium.
LSU, in avenging a seven-overtime loss a year ago at A&M, hammered the Aggies 50-7 in the regular-season finale.
“They kicked our butts in all three phases,” A&M coach Jimbo Fisher said.
As soon as LSU (12-0, 8-0 SEC) whipped Arkansas 56-20 a week prior at Tiger Stadium, the Tigers began yapping about getting revenge on the Aggies for last year’s historic loss — one LSU coach Ed Orgeron and his players thought they had won several times at Kyle Field.
“Obviously, last year was still on our mind,” an elated Orgeron said.
Some apparently misguided pundits wondered during the week if the Tigers’ mighty agitation they had carried for 371 days after last year’s loss might work against them vs. the Aggies (7-5, 4-4), who played it cool during Thanksgiving week, but it was evident early that would not be the case.
“This isn’t us,” A&M linebacker Anthony Hines said of the Aggies losing by 43. “To be a part of this loss definitely hurts.”
On LSU’s first play from scrimmage, A&M defensive tackle Justin Madubuike chased Burrow out of the pocket but wound up with a horse-collar penalty along the sideline. That drive wound up with a 5-yard touchdown run by Clyde Edwards-Helaire, and the Tigers were just getting rolling.
LSU scored on its next drive on a 12-yard pass from Burrow to a wide-open Justin Jefferson in the end zone, and the Tigers scored a third straight time on a 78-yard touchdown reception by Ja’Marr Chase over the top from Burrow against badly beaten safety Demani Richardson.
LSU led 21-0 at the end of the first quarter, and the Baton Rouge Rout was on.
A&M junior quarterback Kellen Mond completed just a third of his passes (10 of 30 for 92 yards) and threw three interceptions while getting sacked six times.
“Kellen was pressured hard all night,” Fisher said. “We couldn’t get our rushing game going, and (Mond) was harassed all night in what he did.”
On the other side of the ball, the Aggies time and again flushed an unflustered Burrow out of the pocket, but it didn’t matter. The Heisman Trophy favorite either kept his eyes downfield or used the open grass in front of him to keep the chains moving.
Things were so lopsided in favor of the Tigers that when running back Tyrion Davis-Price crossed the goal line for an easy 4yard touchdown run early in the second quarter — the Tigers’ fourth touchdown on their fourth drive — Davis-Price gently patted an official on his shoulder for the fun of it.
With six minutes left before halftime, after the Tigers’ fifth drive resulted in a 51-yard field goal instead of a touchdown, Burrow had 24 rushing yards. The Aggies had 24 yards of total offense at the time.
The Tigers led 31-0 at halftime, and the packed house had become so indifferent to the Aggies the LSU fans didn’t even follow through with a planned “boo” of the Aggie Band that had circulated on social media. The A&M band took the field after the LSU band’s performance to a smattering of catcalls, but left the field to a roar from an appreciative crowd — the most anyone from A&M had to cheer before the third quarter.
The Aggies finally got on the scoreboard with 4:13 remaining in the third quarter and the outcome long determined, on Isaiah Spiller’s 1-yard touchdown run to tighten the gap to 34-7.
“They’re one of the top teams in the country for a reason,” Mond said. “The offense just wasn’t on point today. We’ve got to be better to play that type of team.”
The Aggies (7-5) now await their bowl destination. Fisher is 16-9 over two seasons with the Aggies after last year’s 9-4 mark capped by a four-game win streak.
A&M this year played one of the nation’s toughest schedules in facing three teams ranked No. 1 by the Associated Press — the first time that’s happened to a program in NCAA history — but few saw Saturday’s thrashing coming.