Cotton Bowl Preview: Texas A&M vs. LSU
- Wednesday, January 5, 2011 1:21 PM
- Written By: Erin Jentz
The Aggies came back from three devastating mid-season losses to stake a claim to the Big XII South title. Of course, they had to share it with Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. While they didn’t get the BCS bid, the Aggies still landed in a very respectable game, the AT&T Cotton Bowl, against SEC opponent LSU.
During the conference meltdown this summer, A&M flirted openly with the SEC. For one very chaotic and controversial weekend, it looked as if they might split for the east. But we all know how this ends. Commissioner Dan Beebe saved the conference and his job with some quick behind-closed-doors deals. During the regular season, A&M faced an SEC team, No. 11 Arkansas, and they lost 24-17. Now, the Aggies get a second chance see how they fare against a team from the south east.
Since shuffling QBs, A&M has been on a six-game hot streak, knocking Nebraska and Oklahoma out of the top ten the following week. They capped the season with a win against rival Texas in front of a crowd split much more evenly than one would expect in Austin. Basically, the fighting Aggies are fired up.
All that momentum could come to a grinding halt Friday evening when the Aggies face the Tiger defense. LSU is eight in total defense, tied for ninth in scoring defense and 10th against the pass, allowing only 165.8 yards by air per game. That’s almost half of what the Aggies usually post. The Tiger’s ground game is on par with A&M, both averaging roughly 170 yards a game, and LSU severely lags behind the Aggies on the passing game, using two quarterbacks who combined for 1,826 yards and six touchdowns.
Ryan Tannehill put up almost as many yards and TDs in only six games that the two LSU quarterbacks combined for all season. In the end, it will come down to the LSU defense. If they can keep the Aggies out of the end zone and give their offense time to score, then the Tigers can hand A&M their second SEC loss of the season. But that’s easier said than done with Tannehill in the pocket and with the renewed momentum of the fighting Aggies.
