By Hunt Palmer
As College Station area apparel stores stocked their shelves with black Texas A&M gear early this week, AC-DC was blaring from the LSU practice facility over 350 miles away.
Preparation had begun for what some are calling the biggest Texas A&M home game in decades.
First place in college football’s most powerful conference is on the line Saturday night as LSU visits the Aggies in a Top 15 showdown. The SEC’s largest stadium will be full and dressed in black awaiting the Tigers.
“It’s definitely going to be loud,” said LSU starting quarterback Garrett Nussmeier. “But, it’s just about communication. It’s easy when you’re at home, and the fans are on your side. Nobody’s making noise. You can easily communicate. On the road it’s just about getting up, getting close to the tackles, making sure everyone can hear. Reiterating the calls to the backs, stuff like that. It’ll be huge for us this weekend.”
LSU has faced a pair of tough road environments already this season.
ESPN’s College Gameday broadcast from Columbia, S.C., for the first time in more than 10 years in Week 3. The Tigers fell behind, 17-0, in that contest but rallied to take the lead and ultimately win a, 36-33, thriller.
Last week Arkansas hosted LSU in a primetime matchup at a packed Razorback Stadium with its fourth largest crowd ever. LSU controlled the game from start to finish and won by 24.
The Tigers have scored points on 14 of their last 18 drives of consequence on the road under Nussmeier’s direction.
”Garrett is very calm,” said graduate running back Josh Williams. “He may move around a lot, but he’s very calm, very collected. He doesn’t really give us any doubt. I don’t have any doubt when I’m on the field with Garrett. He’s very loud, very demanding of the offensive line. I like it. He gets us going out there. He gives us energy, and you can feel his energy on the field. He’s not shying away, and (he’s) getting calls from the coaches. He’s exactly what we need.”
While the production has been excellent, it has come with some mistakes.
Nussmeier was picked off twice at South Carolina. One came back for a horsecollar call. The other nearly put South Carolina up two scores were it not for an unnecessary roughness call after the interception.
Last week the Tiger offense was flagged for seven pre-snap penalties in the first half—six false starts and a snap infraction.
“We’ve acknowledged it. We didn’t try to freak out about it,” Nussmeier said. “It hasn’t been a problem all year. We’ve had some here and there, but every offense does. That’s normal football. It’s a problem we had last week, and we acknowledged it. It’s unacceptable. We don’t want it to happen again, but we’re not trying to get lost in it.”
LSU was able to overcome the majority of the penalties by producing first downs and continuing drives, but that’s not something the Tigers want to make a habit of. Williams said there have been some rules put in place during practice this week.
“There’s been a big emphasis on (pre-snap penalties) especially after last week, of course,” Williams said. “(Offensive coordinator Joe) Sloan really harped on it in the review of the game. Also, making whoever false started run around, get a little conditioning in. Just really giving the consequence and making us focus on not false starting and shooting ourselves in the foot and stopping our drives in the middle of a good momentum swing.”
While Nussmeier barks calls and protections to his teammates on the offensive side, the Aggie defense will also be communicating defensive alignments and assignments. First year head coach Mike Elko found himself underprepared for the Kyle Field noise during his stint as Texas A&M’s defensive coordinator.
“We played a big game against Clemson early in the year. How loud the noise was definitely caught me off guard,” Elko said. “Since I’ve been back, we actually do the reverse. When we’re on the road, we blare the speakers behind the offense. When we’re at home we actually blare the speakers behind the defense so that they learn how to communicate through those third downs when the crowd is really rocking.”
The Aggies are 10-5 on the road versus Power 4/5 teams over the last four seasons. Under Brian Kelly, the Tigers are 7-3 on the road in conference, 2-0 this season.
In wins at South Carolina and Arkansas, LSU ran the ball 32 and 37 times, respectively, the top two marks of the season thus far. Nussmeier threw for under 300 yards in both games, as well, the only two on the year he’s fallen short of that number.
“It’s very important to get the run game established, especially in a loud, rowdy stadium,” Williams said. “Going into A&M, it’s the largest stadium in the SEC, and they’re known for the 12th Man, and their fans are known for what they provide their team. So, establishing the run game will just help make the defense even keeled, not stacking the box and making Garrett throw over the top. It will give us more versatility to throw and run.”
The Aggies have allowed the fewest yards rushing per game in conference games. Missouri only managed 68 yards on the ground in Kyle Field.
Head coach Brian Kelly preaches turning preparation to performance. Williams echoed that this week.
”That’s what we’re prepared for, for it to be sold out,” he said. “We’re both undefeated in the SEC. And we’re expecting the 12th Man to be the 12th Man that we know. We’ve been watching videos of their stadium how their culture is, so we’re just getting prepared for it.”
