Texas A&M @ Louisiana State preview

Last Meeting ( Nov 24, 2018 ) Louisiana State 72, Texas A&M 74

LSU already clinched its spot in the SEC championship game and has a clear path to the College Football Playoff but doesn't need a blemish on the resume at the end of the regular season. The top-ranked Tigers will try to finish off a perfect regular season when they host a pesky Texas A&M squad on Saturday.

LSU, which dropped to No. 2 in the CFP rankings behind Ohio State this week, did not celebrate after clinching the SEC West and won't be looking ahead to its matchup with Georgia in the SEC championship game with a rematch against an Aggies squad that outlasted the Tigers 74-72 in seven overtimes last season this weekend. "Immediately after the game, it was like, it's already redemption time as far as next week," LSU running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire told reporters after a 56-20 win over Arkansas last week. "The gear's already switched. That's how it's been every week. We owe those guys a lot from last year." The Aggies took Georgia down to the wire in a 19-13 setback last week and suffered all four of their losses to teams in the top-10 at the time of the meeting (Clemson, Auburn, Alabama and Georgia). "It was a hard-fought game," Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher told reporters after the latest setback. "We're not here for moral victories. We played a great football team very well, but we've got to find that last two inches. We were there; there were some opportunities that things could have gone a different way."

TV: 7 p.m. ET, ESPN. LINE: LSU -17

ABOUT TEXAS A&M (7-4, 4-3 SEC): LSU will mark the third No. 1 team the Aggies have faced this season, but the team is not blaming the tough schedule for its losses. "We're right there and those last couple of inches, those last couple of percentages," Texas A&M quarterback Kellen Mond told reporters after the setback in Georgia. "We're right there. We've got to get over that hump and we continue to fight, on the road especially. I feel we're getting better. Even though I'm mad about a loss, I'm encouraged about where we're at." Mond joined former Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel as the only players in Aggies history with at least 7,000 passing yards and 1,000 rushing yards in his career when his 275 passing yards against Georgia brought him up to 7,192.

ABOUT LSU (11-0, 7-0): The Tigers put 72 points on the board against the Aggies last season but come in with a much different offense in 2019 and have perfected the attack behind Heisman Trophy frontrunner Joe Burrow, who added another 327 yards and three touchdowns against Arkansas. LSU is the first team in SEC history with a 4,000-yard passer (Burrow), a 1,000-yard rusher (Edwards-Helaire) and two 1,000-yard receivers (Ja'Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson) and is not surprised with how much success it has enjoyed this season. "We expected this," Burrow told reporters. "We expected this coming into the year. If we weren't 11 and 0 right now, we'd be disappointed. We've got more ahead of us."

BUZZER BEATERS

1. LSU's 6,172 yards of total offense breaks the school record of 6,152 set in 2001.

2. The Aggies were held to minus-2 yards rushing last week, with star freshman RB Isaiah Spiller managing seven yards on 11 carries.

3. Burrow (41) needs four TD passes to break the SEC record set by Missouri's Drew Lock in 2017.

PREDICTION: LSU 48, Texas A&M 31