Fisher, Aggies not worried despite LSU rout
BATON ROUGE, La. — Last week, coach Jimbo Fisher pledged Texas A&M was on the edge of significance in the SEC in vowing to Aggies and the rest of the league, “We’re coming, we’re coming.”
No one realized that edge was a cliff on the banks of the Mississippi River, one the unsuspecting Aggies plunged over Saturday night at No. 2 LSU in a 50-7 embarrassment.
Afterward, Fisher said he was unalarmed by the Aggies’ worst loss to the Tigers in the 58-game history of the series and that his A&M program is still progressing in his second season.
“One game doesn’t (change) it, but it also shows how quick it can go the other way,” Fisher said. “I’m not deterred over one game. There’s still a lot of work we have to do. We’ve got to find out how bad (we want it) and how important it is to us.”
The historic loss, engineered by LSU quarterback and Heisman Trophy front-runner Joe Burrow, sent reporters thumbing through record books. For starters, the Aggies’ 169 yards of total offense were their fewest since their most humiliating loss in program history — 77-0 at Oklahoma in 2003.
Dennis Franchione was in his first season at A&M that year, when the Aggies gained 54 yards against the Sooners. At the same time, Fisher was LSU’s offensive coordinator under-then Tigers coach Nick Saban, and LSU was en route to its first national championship since 1958.
A&M and LSU played each other 50 times from 1899-2010 as nonconference foes and began an annual series in 2012 when A&M joined the SEC. LSU won the first six games before the Aggies prevailed 74-72 in seven overtimes last year at Kyle Field.
The Tigers (12-0, 8-0 SEC) stewed for 371 days and unleashed their frustrations on the Aggies (7-5, 4-4) by scoring four touchdowns on their first four drives Saturday in a packed Tiger Stadium.
“Fifty to seven,” LSU coach Ed Orgeron said. “That was pretty good.”
Following the Aggies’ 45-21 loss at LSU two years ago, A&M fired Kevin Sumlin because of perpetual middling seasons and replaced him with Fisher, who won a national title at Florida State in 2013. Fisher, lured for a guaranteed $75 million over 10 years, finished 9-4 in his first season. The Aggies for the first time finished as high as second in the SEC West, owning the tiebreaker over LSU.
With a daunting schedule this season — no program ever faced three No. 1 teams in the Associated Press poll — the Aggies lost to Clemson, Auburn, Alabama, Georgia and LSU, all ranked in the latest College Football Playoff tabulation. The Aggies did not beat a ranked team in the regular season, with a bowl game to go.
The Aggies’ worst loss this season before Saturday was by 19 points to Alabama, and their second worst loss was by 22 last year at Alabama. So the blowout against LSU came as a surprise, although it matched Fisher’s worst loss as a head coach (43 points in FSU’s 63-20 loss to Louisville and then-quarterback Lamar Jackson in 2016).
“We played super all year, as far as how we competed and stayed in games, but we weren’t able to do that (against LSU),” Fisher said. “We’ve got to play better, and I’ve got to coach better.”
The Aggies, following their worst loss since 59-0 under Sumlin five years ago at Alabama, now await their bowl destination, with the Texas Bowl a possibility following Alabama’s loss to Auburn on Saturday in the Iron Bowl.
“We’ll hopefully have 15 really good bowl practices for our young guys to get better,” Fisher said.
A&M fans since Fisher’s hire two years ago have pointed to 2020 as a season to compete for an SEC West crown, complete with a favorable schedule that also includes road games at Auburn on Oct. 17 and Alabama on Nov. 21.
Still, the Aggies realize Saturday’s rout will be tough to shake for the time being. Quarterback
Kellen Mond played his worst game as an Aggie, finishing 10 of 30 for 97 yards and three interceptions.
Mond also was sacked five times courtesy of a leaky offensive line, with the Tigers’ defense also sacking A&M backup James Foster late in the game. Mond was asked if the Aggies will use the loss as motivation, as LSU treated its defeat to A&M last year.
“I hope so,” he said.