The LSU Tigers dominated the Texas A&M Aggies 35-6 Saturday night in Tiger Stadium.
LSU, ranked No. 10 in the AP Top 25 and No. 11 in the AFCA Coaches poll, improved to 3-1 overall and 1-1 in the SEC . Texas A&M, ranked No. 23 in the AP poll and No. 20 in the coaches poll, dropped to 2-2 and 0-2.
The Tigers avenged a 49-25 loss to the Aggies last season that ultimately led to the firing of Head Coach Brian Kelly.
LSU also bounced back from a 32-24 loss to Ole Miss last week.
Despite suffering a leg injury, LSU quarterback Sam Leavitt completed 17-of-23 passes for 312 yards and two touchdowns with one interception.
Leavitt, who has been an effective runner, said he “felt something” on a run to the sideline in the second quarter. He was noticeably limping after that.
Kiffin said it was a hamstring injury.
“Sam’s obviously very injured,” Kiffin said. “I joked to him maybe it’s the best thing to happen because he had to stay in the pocket and throw on time. He knew he couldn’t run.
“Really gutsy performance by him. I was actually getting ready to take him out and he said no way he wasn’t coming out. He was going to play through it.”
Leavitt said he is going to be fine and that the injury helped him focus a little more on throwing.
“It’s kind of almost locks you in on a different level when you get a little hurt,” he said. “You don’t have another option other than distributing the ball, playing pure point guard in a different way than I have all season.
“I told the offensive line I might need a little more time because I’m not going to be able to run around back there and make any plays. Every one else stepped up around me so that made it easy for me.”
The Tigers played without injured star tight end Trey’Dez Green.
Jackson Harris, a Hawaii transfer who came into the game with five catches, stepped up. He caught six for 163 yards and two touchdowns. His second one came on fourth-and-1 from the LSU 43 early in the third quarter.
With the Aggies likely expecting running back Dilin Jones to take a direct snap as he did on a touchdown run earlier, the Tigers set up that way. Leavitt shifted to get the snap and Harris was quickly running free with no one near him.
“Had a sneaky little shift in the backfield,” Leavitt said. “Jackson did a great job of selling the crack and go. Just a great call on a fourth-and-1 situation.”
Kiffin said he almost decided to punt but wanted to be aggressive.
The touchdown gave LSU a 21-3 lead and seemed to take all the life out of the struggling Aggies. Harris’ first TD reception of 17 yards plus Scott Starzyk’s second PAT gave LSU a 14-3 lead late in the first half,
Winston Watkins Jr. caught five passes for 107 yards.
LSU rolled up 194 yards rushing. Jones had a team-high 63 yards on 14 carries and scored the game’s first touchdown on a 1-yard run.
Harlem Berry had 58 yards on seven carries. Backup quarterback Landen Clark 41 yards on nine and scored two touchdowns.
The Tigers had 506 total yards.
Putting pressure on quarterback Marcel Reed throughout the game, the Tigers limited the Aggies to just 197 total yards. Reed completed 10-of-26 passes for just 106 yards with one interception. LSU didn’t let him scramble for big yards. He finished with a minus-13 yards on 10 carries.
Texas A&M finished with 91 yards rushing.