LSU’s 35–6 victory over Texas A&M provided another indication that this program is different from what Tiger fans have watched since that championship run in 2019.

It doesn’t put these Tigers in that team’s championship company, of course. But as a former player and observer of how groups respond to every little nuance of emotion and external influence in front of them, I’m seeing boxes checked: the electric and completely locked-in start against Clemson despite the weather delay, the Louisiana Tech blowout despite the mistakes, the second-half fight in Oxford, and now a convincing response to that emotional defeat against Ole Miss, which then couldn’t go on the road at Florida and replicate the same level of play it reached just one week earlier.

A&M looked completely overwhelmed by the better team in that second half Saturday night.

And now, after all of that—after the off-season and the lead-up to that game last weekend so many thought was so important—both teams sit at 1-1 in the league.

“It wasn’t our Super Bowl,” Kiffin said to the reporter after the game.

That’s exactly right. LSU has bigger goals to think about. Going 3–1 in September is a solid beginning against that opening schedule, particularly considering the injuries already piling up.

The fact that they honestly could have beaten Ole Miss if they had just done one or two things differently illustrates the change in Baton Rouge even more.

And with the missed chip-shot field goal and late dropped touchdown, Saturday against A&M could reasonably have finished 45–6. My new friend at LSU Tiger Gold would have been closer to that desired 50–7 replay of 2019, the answer to seven overtimes in College Station the year before.

My own preview on Friday said the game could end up looking like the Clemson game, but I was choosing not to go in that direction with my score pick. Sometimes your gut is right, and sometimes it’s wrong.

We argued that revenge needed to have started on Monday, finding its way into every practice, drill, and film session. Saturday indicated that the Tigers had put the disappointment in Oxford to work on their behalf rather than waiting for the home crowd or the locker room music to fire them up.

Blake Baker’s defense answered the Marcel Reed question emphatically, limiting him to 106 passing yards and -13 net rushing yards, including lost yardage on four Tiger sacks. Some will dismiss Reed as a regressing quarterback and say LSU hasn’t beaten anybody yet. Perhaps he is, but fans must remember what he did to LSU the previous two seasons. The defense prepared for that threat, then pressed the bars of the cage in on him without the injured Dashawn Spears.

True freshman No. 99 Deuce Geralds is fun to watch.

The offensive line was serviceable, sometimes more. Watching a running back find something besides his own linemen’s rear ends has been refreshing for much of the year. Better protection, coupled with a leg injury limiting his mobility, encouraged Sam Leavitt to stay in the pocket and distribute the ball to his playmakers. He throws a beautiful ball when he takes the time to do it.

Jackson Harris is a stud, and apparently responded well to a pregame pep talk from former Tiger great Jarvis Landry. Harris, Eugene Wilson, and Winnie Watkins are your primary receiving trio, while LSU develops dependable substitutes. Dilin Jones continues to impress, and seeing Harlem Berry contribute was encouraging.

There was another important response after halftime. Having warned Friday that A&M would make adjustments of its own, we watched LSU turn a 14–3 lead into a 35–6 advantage during the third quarter. Kiffin’s fourth-and-one call, producing Harris’ 57-yard touchdown, was an especially clear example of a coach continuing to attack even though his defense was in firm control.

And the home crowd had a much better evening than it did during last year’s humiliation.

The depth of playmaking ability on both sides of the ball has been a question all year, but it seems that, so far, it hasn’t hurt to the degree it maybe should. The Tigers shouldn’t take McNeese lightly, but circumstances have made it necessary that Kiffin do something no coach wants to do—give any indication that this next opponent isn’t as important as the last. But with the injuries piling up, LSU must allow its depth pieces to play much of the game. It may be becoming a matter of survival.

Kiffin’s candor about mounting injuries is welcome, even when the subject clearly concerns him. It’s nice to see someone say something other than “next man up.” LSU can’t keep taking such hits without it catching up to them, as Kiffin himself admitted this weekend. All the money in the world can’t protect a team from bad luck. So while Saturday earns him a check in the box for adapting well after the Ole Miss loss and injury hit, it doesn’t answer the question of what he does if it continues.

Maybe the most important check belongs in the box beside preparation. Kiffin said he and Baker discussed mobile quarterbacks like Reed back in January, and his postgame reference to payback acknowledged last year’s embarrassment in Tiger Stadium against this same Reed-led A&M team. That motivation showed up in the defense’s execution and dominance.

Which brings us to us as fans.

Some thought that last year couldn’t motivate players who weren’t here then. But what we can forget is that returning contributors were on that field Saturday night, including the heartbeat of the defense, one of the teams No. 7s, Whit Weeks, and newcomers didn’t have to experience the embarrassment personally to understand what it meant to their teammates. If the locker room is tight, which it seems to be, that would’ve been motivation enough. Can you imagine Trey’Dez Green or Spears, while injured and unable to seek their own revenge, getting inside the heads of their backups?

Sports psychology can be an amazing study, and it is a good guess that positive peer pressure was in play Saturday night.

Some fans thought LSU was still whining about Ole Miss and would lose to Aggie too. I have an idea where that came from, but boy, that was a funny one.

Incidentally, of course, Ole Miss lost 52–28 at Florida. After all of last weekend’s emotional fire, after this entire off-season’s emotional fire, the Rebels and LSU are both 1–1 in the SEC.

Funny how a season keeps rolling along despite our individual joys and sorrows as a fanbase, ain’t it?

Wins and losses should be in any honest evaluation of a football program, sure, especially one with so much money flying around. But so do preparation, development, adaptations, and the ability to keep competing when important players are sidelined. Brian Kelly’s program gave us reasons for concern beyond its record, but under Kiffin, this team is giving fans a reason to enjoy Saturdays beyond the win-loss record, and it is our opinion that we should appreciate it while it’s still here.

In a word, this team looks, well, good.

The next check against McNeese is similar, and will help keep the emotional highs and lows of a football season “in check” in itself, no matter who the opponent is. It will come in how LSU prepares depth players it will need more sincerely now, particularly the ones whose opportunity has arrived earlier than anyone intended. Saturday gave us reason to believe that work is in capable hands.

Thank you for reading The Hayride!