All week long the messaging was that if LSU stopped the run they would win this game as Conner Weigman couldn't beat LSU with his arm. The Tigers did that but, Mike Elko did what no one expected benching Weigman for True Freshman Marcel Reed. The Aggies offense was under duress as LSU's blitzes were getting home and the Aggies needed to switch to a running quarterback.
The move paid off for Texas A&M as the Aggies never looked back scoring four touchdowns and a field goal in Reed's five drives at quarterback for Texas A&M. Reed gashed the Tigers running for 62 yards and when the Tigers tried to stop his legs he beat them twice passing on two attempts for 70 yards.
If you thought to yourself the Tigers had no answers for Marcel Reed you would be correct. After the game Greg Penn III candidly admitted that LSU didn't expect that Reed would enter this game.
"We didn't really prepare for it."Greg Penn III
On one hand its impossible to prepare for every possible scenario as you only get so many hours in a week to practice under the new NCAA rules. On the other hand, LSU should've seen it as a possibility that Reed could've entered this game especially at halftime when the Aggies couldn't move the football.
We've seen Reed play this season and he had been massive helping LSU stay afloat while Conner Weigman dealt with injuries. Even if the Tigers didn't prepare for Reed as the full time starter they should've atleast prepared for the chance that Reed could've entered the game in certain packages.
At the end of the day, it wasn't like Reed beat LSU with anything special as he ran a majority of the time he was in the game. The defense was put in a bad spot with bad field position but, at the end of the day the Tigers couldn't stop the run in the second half while the Aggies stopped it all game.