Leftovers are always one of the best parts of Thanksgiving and, after Thursday’s performance, you can probably count Texas A&M as a team that may have had too much of them before hitting the field.
The Aggies looked like they were in the middle of a holiday food coma most of the game as the team struggled to stop LSU in a lopsided 54-39 loss to further the team’s November slide.
Tigers tailback Derrius Guice continued to look like one of the best players in the country even if he was just a fill-in for injured starter Leonard Fournette. The sophomore broke Fournette’s school single game record (set just last month) by rushing for 285 yards and four touchdowns on the night.
Not to be completely out done, quarterback Danny Etling turned in perhaps the best performance of his career -- certainly the best in an LSU uniform -- by throwing for 324 yards and two touchdowns. The LSU backfield remarkably topped 300 yards through the air and 200 on the ground for the first time in school history.
Etling’s opposite number Trevor Knight didn’t have quite those numbers in his first start in nearly three weeks after injuring his shoulder against Mississippi State. The signal-caller finished just 14-of-30 for 211 yards but did throw for three touchdowns as A&M mounted a late comeback in the second half. The senior unfortunately didn’t finish the game as he had to be helped off to the sidelines in the fourth quarter with a knee injury.
Keith Ford chipped in 100 yards rushing for the Aggies while true freshman Trayveon Williams added another 63 and a touchdown.
The win was a big one for LSU interim head coach Ed Orgeron to close out the regular season 5-2 under his watch. Whether that is enough to get the Louisiana native the permanent job remains in the air but most of the game was overshadowed by multiple reports regarding the school closing in on hiring Houston head coach Tom Herman.
The program ended up releasing two different in-game statements denying reports that they have concluded their coaching search but it will undoubtedly to be the talk around Baton Rouge as to what direction the Tigers’ brass takes over the next few days.
At the same time, speculation will only increase that Texas A&M’s Kevin Sumlin could be on the hot seat himself after yet another late season slide. The Aggies were No. 4 in the initial College Football Playoff standings but will enter December wondering what the future holds after dropping four of their last six to finish 8-4.
