The east and west sides were empty. The students had left.
The most intimidating venue in American sports, LSU’s Tiger Stadium, had been reduced to a vacant building., Hot dog wrappers and aluminum beer cans rolling in the wind. A few thousand Texas A&M Aggie stood to begin the fourth quarter and began the “saw ‘em off.”
LSU head coach Brian Kelly was jobless 20 hours later, and athletic director Scott Woodward, the man who hired him, followed within the week.
A&M head coach Mike Elko and his quarterback Marcel Reed were in part responsible for the most impactful week in LSU football history. Eleven months later, the stakes aren’t that high for either program, but they’re significantly elevated for both football teams.
Texas A&M and LSU both suffered jarring defeats a week ago.
The Aggies were shoved all over their home field – Kyle Field – by an upstart Kentucky program. LSU fought all the way back in Oxford only to have a potential game-tying drive stopped at the five-yard line.
One loss was ugly. The other was to a top-five team on the road. The College Football Playoff selection committee hasn’t proven it cares much how they look. They’d rather just look at how many.
It’s one.
Both the Aggies and Tigers have CFP aspirations. Saturday’s loser can keep those aspirations, but they’re delusional in doing so. A 0-2 record in SEC play with seven games to play is a death sentence.
For the record, I’d buy stock in both programs under these two coaches.
Elko is a gifted defensive mind with a significant budget backing him. The Texas A&M recruiting class is ranked first in the country, and the Aggies made the CFP last year after an 11-0 start.
Lane Kiffin will win at LSU. He’s got the full support of the administration and a six-year track record of success at Ole Miss.
As of 10:30 p.m. on Saturday night, one coach will have to watch the film with a wandering eye on 2027. That’s brutal, but it’s reality.
This era of college football has stripped the bowls of their significance. There’s no real difference in an 8-4 trip to the Outback Bowl or a 6-6 plane flight to Memphis for the Liberty Bowl.
Both are opt-out extravaganzas built for a dwindling ESPN audience.
There will also be a winner. That winner will feature an embattled quarterback who did enough to win, and a defense that responded after a disappointing effort last week. If it’s LSU, an FCS opponent awaits. If it’s Texas A&M, it’s Arkansas, so about the same thing.
A two-game win streak is assured and some midseason momentum will come with it. Some early-season flaws are likely to remain, but a second loss is absorbable moving forward.
The 50-plus new players on LSU’s roster won’t remember the Aggie War Hymn echoing throughout the corpse of Tiger Stadium. They certainly don’t care about the buyout checks headed to Brian Kelly and Scott Woodward.
The fans remember. The sight of those maroon and white helmets will be a symbol of the end of that era in LSU football. Reed’s first scramble Saturday night will be déjà vu.
That stadium will come alive in an effort to fight off another environment like the one last October. Both teams will fight for their postseason lives.
Unlike last season’s bout that propelled one team to a first ever CFP and another into controlled chaos, this one is just about one season.
Saturday’s fourth quarter only promises two things—the War Hymn and some Garth Brooks. The future promises more battles between these newfound rivals.
It’s two coaches in career-defining jobs. Two quarterbacks in career defining roles. Two fan bases hungry for more and spending to prove it.
The CFP has a way of diminishing November and elevating September for those carrying losses. As college football’s opening month closes, the Tigers and Aggies have eyes on keeping their window open.
Let the music play.
