Opportunity Ags have waited for arrives on Saturday vs. Bayou Bengals

You waited patiently. Well, maybe not patiently, but you definitely waited.

You waited to turn 21 so you could carouse Northgate without a fake ID.

You waited to meet the perfect partner so you could settle down and start a family.

And you’ve waited for Texas A&M to be a legitimate Southeastern Conference football championship contender.

Northgate bouncers may no longer ask you for ID. You may be happily married with children. But you’re still waiting on the Aggies.

You may not have to wait much longer.

As the entire college football world is aware, the nation’s biggest game this weekend is at Kyle Field as No. 8 LSU (6-1, 3-0) vs. No. 14 Texas A&M (6-1, 4-0) matches the only unbeaten teams in SEC play.

Victory likely vaults the Aggies into the top ten.

Victory greatly enhances A&M’s chances of getting into the 12-team College Football Playoff.

Victory earns A&M pole position to the SEC Championship Game.

Victory confirms, without a doubt, A&M is a legitimate championship contender.

All that is contingent on defeating LSU, which appears to be surging after back-to-back victories over Ole Miss and Arkansas.

"It’s going to be a huge challenge,” first-year A&M head coach Mike Elko said earlier this week. “It’s going to be a great environment. It’s going to be an opportunity for us to go out there and show we belong on this stage.”

As college football stages go, this is the Aggies appearing at Radio City Music Hall because so much is at stake and so much talent is on hand.

A&M has a strong pass rush led by Nic Scourton and Shemar Turner. LSU’s line, which boasts elite tackles Will Campbell and Emery Jones Jr., has allowed only two sacks.

“It’s a great matchup,” Elko said. “I joked with our guys. I said, ‘There’s $10 million cash on the line this weekend. Someone’s going to go get it. If you want it, it’s yours.'

“It’ll be a great matchup. It’ll be a lot of fun. That’s what happens in these types of games. You see these high-level players on both sides of the ball for both programs that get a chance to go head to head against each other.”

There are other marquee matchups, too.

LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier leads the SEC’s second-ranked passing attack. A&M’s Le’Veon Moss heads the SEC’s second-ranked running game.

LSU is among the SEC leaders in passing touchdowns. A&M is among the SEC leaders in interceptions.

Those are great matchups within a great matchup.

Of course, A&M is no stranger to great matchups at Kyle Field. The Aggies have played host to several big games since joining the SEC in 2012.

Most recently, they defeated No. 4 Florida in 2020, toppled No. 1 Alabama in 2021 and upset No. 6 LSU in 2022.

But those games did not have real championship implications. The Aggies had already lost to Alabama before beating Florida. They had two SEC losses before beating Alabama in ’21. In ’22, they were eliminated from the championship race before Halloween.

Lindsay Caudle, TexAgs

A&M is 4-0 in SEC play for just the second time ever. The Ags reached the mark in 2016 by beating Tennessee in double OT.

This is the biggest meeting in the series' 63-game history with LSU. Past clashes typically occurred in September or were meaningless bowl games.

Since A&M’s entry into the SEC, the games weren’t as important in the championship race. They met as ranked opponents in 2012, but both teams already had SEC losses to Florida.

This one is different. The race to Atlanta (for the SEC title game) is at the mid-way point. The Aggies and Tigers are atop the league standings.

It’s actually surprising the Aggies are in this position. They’d won just 12 games in the previous two seasons combined. That led to the hiring of Elko. He promised at his introductory press conference that A&M would contend for championships.

The Aggies are ahead of schedule.

“We’re in a really good spot,” Elko said. “We have a really good opportunity. We want to take advantage of where we are.

“A lot of times, you see on the rise up, you have to learn through failure. We’re trying to not do that.

“We don’t want to be that program. We want to be the program that hits it when you get that opportunity.”

Opportunity is here. It’s the opportunity you’ve waited for. You’ve waited long enough.