Is Texas A&M – LSU ramping up to be a great SEC rivalry?
Let’s get this straight: The LSU – Texas A&M rivalry is not considered a geographic rivalry, bearing in mind that – on a good day – it’s about 6 hours drive away.
Plus, Texas A&M is as obsessed with beating Texas as LSU is obsessed with beating Alabama: Nick Saban or not.
Plus, A&M only came into the SEC since 2012, and Mile Slive & Co put together these every-year games.
But since they came along, we’ve had a seven-overtime game, which told the powers-that-be in Indianapolis that we didn’t need, er, seven overtime games. And since 2018, the rivalry has been 3-3.
Yes, not many games have been particularly close, but this one promises to be different.
That’s because Texas A&m is unbeaten in the SEC….and so is LSU.
It’s gonna be a war.
(Elsewhere, there are two ranked match-ups. No.5 Texas goes to NUMBER 25 VANDERBILT, while match-up No.21 Missouri and No.11 Alabama play in Tuscaloosa. Oklahoma travels to No.18 Ole Miss, Arkansas goes to Mississippi State in the battle of SEC bottom-dwellers, and the game that no-one should watch in Auburn and Kentucky, live from Lexington).
Anyway, here we go in manner of our interest…
1. No.8 LSU at No.14 Texas A&M (-1): If the win over Missouri was absolutely dominant and beautiful, the win over Mississippi State was a struggle. Sure, they won, but Conor Weigman still threw for two picks (15-25 for 215 and a TD also), which is worrying if you consider the A&M controlled the line of scrimmage. Where they were better was on 3rd down efficiency (9-14 vs 5-16) and the continued harrassment of frosh QB Michael Van Buren. On the other side of it, LSU absolutely blew out Arkansas – a result we didn’t see coming after the Razorbacks’ win over Tennessee. The tale of the tape is this – LSU was dominant, but they still had to rely on kicker Damian Ramos too much, who hit six field goals. Don’t take those chances against A&M at night, and the Tigers will probably lose their unbeaten status. The big man for LSU could well be LB Whit Weeks, who leads the SEC in solo tackles and total tackles. As for the offense, we like what Garrett Nussmeier brings to the party. He’s improving week by week. PREDICTION: Texas A&M with a huge victory: Aggies 38, LSU 34.
2. No.5 Texas (-18.5) at No.25 Vanderbilt. After their comprehensive loss at Georgia, there is a feeling that ‘TEX’ could befall the same problem as Alabama did: Losing to Vanderbilt. But get this – the Vanderbilt that beat Alabama and followed it up with a win over Kentucky, struggled like hell against one of the worst teams in college football — Ball State. Sure, Vanderbilt’s pretty good at playing down to their opposition (See Georgia State and Ball State for details), but Diego Pavia’s opposition this week certainly is not. The New Mexican Johnny Manziel will be running for his life against a Texas defense which is fearsome and fast. Still, we don’t trust Quin Ewers to be consistent — because we’ve never trusted him to be consistent. We don’t think they’ll lose, but this is one is going to be tighter than Vegas’ prediction. PREDICTION: Texas 42, Vanderbilt 30.
3. No.21 Missouri at No.11 Alabama (-17.5): With the problems that Alabama has all over the field, we don’t understand how they are such a massive, massive favorite over Missouri, who only struggled because their quarterback (Brady Cook) had to go to hospital after a hit. Alabama might have a great WR in Ryan Williams, but the Jalin Monroe adventure is so inconsistent you wonder whether he’ll be passing the ball to a him or behind him, or whether Missouri is simply going to try and stop the most valuable package he has – his legs. Brady Cook isn’t the best passer either, but he’s got two weapons in Luther Burden and Theo Wease who can break a game open. And while we don’t think Missouri will win, Alabama’s not going to beat them by 17. One more added bit of flavour is this: The loser of this game can count themselves out of play-off running. PREDICTION: Alabama 34, Missouri 28.
4. Oklahoma at No.18 Ole Miss (-20.5): Ole Miss needs to win this to have some hope of getting to the play-off, while Oklahoma is a battle too…..the one for .500. Oklahoma’s not been helped by the fact that their Top 5 wide receivers are injured, and the QB Jackson Arnold is poor at best. The defense can’t last 60 minutes when the offense is consistently 3-and-out. For Ole Miss, they had the week off, and they’ve got the weapons to do some serious damage. This one won’t be pretty. PREDICTION: Ole Miss 45, Oklahoma 10.
5. Arkansas (-7) at Mississippi State: While Mississippi State has shown marked improvement this season with 10-point losses at Georgia and to Texas A&M, Arkansas remains an enigma. First they lock up Tennessee, then they play LSU, where losing 34-10 absolutely flattered them. And while this won’t be a lot of fun to watch for the neutrals, it’s definitely going to be close. PREDICTION: Mississippi State 32, Arkansas 30.
6. Auburn at Kentucky (-1.5): Urgh. PREDICTION: Kentucky 17, Auburn 14.