Eyes don't lie in problematic A&M's Baton Rouge beat down

Click here to view Texas A&M’s postgame press conference.

Game #4: No. 10 Louisiana State 35, No. 23 Texas A&M 6
Records: Texas A&M (2-2, 0-2), Louisiana State (3-1, 1-1)
Box Score

BATON ROUGE, La. — Sage New York philosopher George Constanza once famously said: “It’s not a lie … if you believe it.”

From those words of wisdom, we can conclude that Texas A&M football coach Mike Elko does not lie. He truly believed it last summer when he said this year’s Aggies secondary would be the best he’s ever had.

Alas, our eyes don’t lie either.

For the third consecutive week, the No. 23-and-falling Aggies (2-2, 0-2) were seen frequently surrendering explosive passing plays in a disheartening 35-6 Southeastern Conference loss to No. 10 LSU (3-1, 1-1) on Saturday night in Death Valley.

“Clearly, I’m surprised, or I wouldn’t have said what I said (last summer),” an exasperated Elko said in a postgame press conference. “I think we are capable of being way better than we are right now.”

Danny Grant, TexAgs

Texas A&M’s defense surrendered 508 yards to LSU.

LSU quarterback Sam Leavitt, hobbling on one leg and yet not often blitzed, passed for 312 yards and two touchdowns. He completed two passes for 36 yards, one for 35, another for 26 and three for 15 yards or more.

Most of Leavitt’s big throws went to receiver Jackson Harris, who had six catches for 163 yards. In LSU’s three previous games combined, he had five catches for 117 yards.

Harris’ costliest catch was a 57-yard touchdown on fourth-and-1 that staked LSU to a 21-3 lead early in the third quarter.

The Aggies had felt at least somewhat confident trailing just 14-3 at halftime. But that touchdown broke their spirit if not their backs.

“At halftime, I thought we were in a decent spot,” Elko said. “Then it just went to total shit in the second half.”

The Aggies expected to play better. After a miserable 31-21 loss to Kentucky last week, they were seeking absolution.

Instead, they were absolutely dominated in every phase. Well, except the kicking game. David Olano made two field goals, including a 53-yarder. Tyler White averaged 51.9 yards on seven punts.

There are your highlights. Other than that, the Aggies’ performance was an exercise in futility.

Quarterback Marcel Reed was bad. He completed just 10 passes for 106 yards and threw an interception.

Danny Grant, TexAgs

Marcel Reed has now thrown three interceptions through four games.

His protection was worse. Reed was sacked four times for 41 yards in losses. LSU’s pass rush flooded through A&M’s rebuilt offensive line that obviously needs more construction. When Reed wasn’t sacked, he routinely ran to avoid pressure, which forced incompletions and worse.

The problem?

“It was literally everything,” Elko said. “It was protections. It was routes. It was receivers (not) creating separation. There was the quarterback (not) delivering the ball where it needed to go on time. There’s every single aspect that was not nearly close (to good enough).”

That’s obvious. What isn’t obvious is: Where do the Aggies go from here?

This clash with LSU was hyped as a de facto playoff elimination game. A two-loss team didn’t figure to go unscathed through seven more treacherous SEC games.

Especially not the Aggies, who can’t seem to find solutions to their myriad of problems.

“We’ve got to be able to run what we’re trying to run,” Elko said. “We have to be able to execute what we’re trying to execute. We’ve got to look at everything. Not that we haven’t been already, but we have to look at everything and figure it out.”

The question now isn’t if A&M can make the playoffs, but whether the Aggies can get six wins required to qualify for a bowl game.

Reed, for one, somehow remains confident.

“We’re trying to figure out what the problem is, and we will,” he said. “We’re going to get this thing changed and turned around.

“We’re at rock bottom. We know we’ve gotta dig ourselves out of this hole.”

It’s possible. But there aren’t many sure wins left on the schedule.

A “buy-a-victory game” vs. The Citadel remains. Oklahoma is also struggling. So is South Carolina.

But Oklahoma can play defense. South Carolina can score. A&M couldn’t do either. And the Aggies travel to face those two opponents.

As hard as it is to fathom, next week’s game vs. Arkansas may decide the SEC’s weakest team.

“I don’t have the answers right now, this second,” Elko said. “We’ve got to find them, and we’ve got to find them fast.”

He’s not lying.