Undaunted by past, Elko, 8-0 Aggies thump LSU

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Texas A&M coach Mike Elko isn't particularly interested in what the Aggies were or what they failed to accomplish during decades of underachievement. He is all about the 2025 Aggies, who are 8-0 after beating LSU 49-25 on Saturday night.

Texas A&M scored 35 straight points to pull away, empty out Tiger Stadium and celebrate with a large contingent of the 12th Man in the Southeast corner of the stadium.

"I keep saying this: It's not about the past," Elko said. "We got to stop, like, worrying about the past, thinking about the past, talking about the past. I'm excited for what this team is doing right now.

"This team is doing some really special things."

The third-ranked Aggies are 8-0 for the first time since 1992 after their first win at LSU as an SEC member. Texas A&M has scored 40 or more points in four consecutive road games for the first time in team history, which ties the SEC record, and put up the highest points total against a ranked LSU team at Tiger Stadium since Georgia scored 52 in 2008.

"They tried to put a quote up there that I said that Death Valley was underwhelming," quarterback Marcel Reed said. "And shoot, I guess it was. They didn't do much to me."

What stood out about Texas A&M's rout is how unlikely it seemed at halftime, when No. 20 LSU led 18-14. The Aggies had gone through a miserable, albeit historically familiar, second quarter, when they had a punt blocked through the end zone for a safety, threw two interceptions and were outscored 11-0.

Texas A&M hadn't really been stopped, outgaining LSU 258-189 at the half, but its mistakes created a deficit for the first time this season. The Aggies' only win in their previous 10 games while trailing at the half came against LSU last season.

"I said, 'You're the better team, but you have to play better football, and if you don't play better football, you're gonna let one slip away tonight,'" Elko said of his halftime message.

Added Reed: "Elko definitely said some things. I can't really remember every detail. It was aggressive, though, for sure."

Reed felt Texas A&M was the superior team from the start of the game, but the Aggies had to prove it. They did with their most complete quarter of the season, outscoring LSU 21-0 and outgaining the Tigers 132-14. The highlight came from KC Concepcion, the star wide receiver who returned a punt 79 yards for a touchdown.

Texas A&M punted just once in the second half and forced four consecutive LSU punts. Elko credited the strong finish to strength and conditioning coach Tommy Moffitt, who held the same role at LSU from 2000 to 2021 until being ousted during the coaching transition from Ed Orgeron to Brian Kelly.

"Moffitt wanted this game just as bad as anyone else," said Reed, who finished with 202 passing yards and two touchdowns, and 108 rushing yards and two scores. "I remember Thursday, he kind of brought in a tackling dummy with Brian Kelly's face on it. Yeah, this one was an important one to him."

Some LSU fans chanted for Kelly's firing in the closing minutes as the Tigers, who began the season with national championship aspirations, lost for the third time in four games. LSU had been 20-1 in night games under Kelly.

"20-2," Elko said when a reporter asked about Kelly's record.

LSU is 4-5 in its past nine SEC games.

"Our fans are disappointed like any fan base would be," said Kelly, who turned 64 on Saturday. "It stops with the head coach, so that responsibility falls with me."

Elko is keenly aware of what Texas A&M has been, and what places like Tiger Stadium have represented for the program. He was the Aggies' defensive coordinator in 2019 when LSU, playing in Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow's final home game, thumped the Aggies 50-7 on the way to the national championship. Texas A&M had other losses in this building, both big and small, stretching all the way back to 1994, when they won 18-13.

"I told the kids this the other day: I was the starting point guard on my high school basketball team the last time [Texas A&M] won here," Elko said.

He stopped short of saying he expected an 8-0 start, or such a dominant win in such a house of horrors for past Aggies teams. But Texas A&M's different paths to victory this season -- a last-minute comeback at Notre Dame, grinder victories against Auburn and Arkansas, several blowouts -- make Elko confident that his team can check all the boxes of a championship contender.

Texas A&M enters an open week before a November that will determine whether it secures its first College Football Playoff appearance.

"There's definitely still a lot of things to be proven, and I feel like a lot of people in this country still don't respect us as a team," Reed said. "So no, we're not trying to prove anybody wrong. We're just going to go prove ourselves right."