Aggies Take Down No. 6 LSU, 38-23

BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas  – Devon Achane rushed for a career-high 215 yards to highlight the Texas A&M offense in Saturday night’s 38-23 upset of the No. 6 LSU Tigers at Kyle Field.

After missing the last two games with injury, Achane paced a rushing attack that sullied LSU’s College Football Playoff chances. Among his 38 carries were two 10-yard TD totes. As a team, the Aggies rolled up a season-high 274 rushing yards.

LSU had an opportunity to cut the margin to one TD late in the fourth quarter, but Tyreek Chappell jarred the ball loose from Jaray Jenkins in the end zone on a 4th-and-15 passing play to keep the Aggies up by 15 points.

Achane ran out the final 2:37 of the game with 45 yards on seven carries.

The Tigers tied the game at 17-17 on their first drive of the second half. John Emery Jr. rushed for a 19-yard TD to finish a 71-yard drive. 

The momentum appeared to swing in LSU’s direction when the Aggies went 3-and-out on their next possession, but that was put to rest when Edgerrin Cooper forced a fumble and Demani Richardson went 27 yards on a scoop-and-score.

LSU’s ensuing drive stalled out at the A&M 47-yard line and the Aggies made the most of it as Moose Muhammad III hauled in a one-handed TD reception on a 21-yard strike from Conner Weigman, inflating the cushion to 31-17.

Another circus catch by Muhammad, a 39-yard reception, keyed the Maroon & White’s next scoring drive. Achane capped it off with his second TD run, stretching the Aggie advantage to 21 points with 7:46 left in the fourth quarter. 

LSU needed just 1:25 to score on its next drive, Emery’s third TD run of the game, but an unsuccessful two-point play left the Bayou Bengals down 38-23 with 6:21 remaining.

Texas A&M scored on its first three drives to take a 17-10 lead into the intermission. The lone first-half possession the Aggies did not score points on was when they received an LSU punt at their own 19-yard line with :08 remaining in the second quarter.

After forcing the Tigers to punt on their first possession, the Maroon & White went on its longest opening drive of the season. The Aggies traveled 90 yards on 15 plays, capped off by Achane’s first 10-yard TD run of the day. The 7:37-drive was the second-longest for A&M in 2022.

LSU responded immediately with a clock-eating drive of its own, tying the game 7-7 with 14:00 remaining in the second quarter. Emery rushed into the end zone from 4 yards out to put the period on a 12-play, 75-yard drive that covered 5:54.

The teams swapped field goals on their next drives. Randy Bond hit a 25-yarder for Texas A&M and Damian Ramos was good from 34 yards for LSU.

The Aggies reclaimed the lead with 1:10 remaining in the half when Weigman stood calm under pressure on 3rd-and-goal and uncorked a 3-yard TD pass to Donovan Green. Weigman kept the 9-play, 72-yard drive alive with a 12-yard scamper on 3rd-and-12 from the LSU 45-yard line.