As if it were not already visibly clear, LSU is now officially in the role of potential spoiler for teams vying for a spot in this year’s College Football Playoff.
The initial rankings from the College Football Playoff selection committee debuted Tuesday night. This week’s opponent for the Tigers, the Texas A&M Aggies, is the first team out of the four-team playoff field. The Aggies debuts at No. 5 in the playoff rankings.
For Texas A&M, the No. 5 ranking from the selection committee is the highest the program has been ranked in the playoff poll since Nov. 1, 2016. The Aggies were ranked No. 4 in that week’s rankings, but the Aggies went into a second-half stumble the rest of the year. Texas A&M lost back-to-back games against Mississippi State and Ole Miss and eventually ended the year with a regular-season finale loss to LSU (54-39) and a Texas Bowl loss to Kansas State.
With Texas A&M on the doorstep of the College Football Playoff, is there a chance LSU can lock the door on the Aggies?
Given the current landscape of college football, it would seem likely that a second loss for Texas A&M would be enough to knock the Aggies out of the playoff picture with time beginning to run out. But LSU is a significant underdog on the road and may not be the ideal candidate to through Texas A&M for a loop in the playoff hunt.
Nothing would please Texas A&M more than to make their first playoff statement against the school that won it all a year ago (and embarrassed them on the way to doing so). While this LSU team may be nowhere close to what it was a season ago, the colors on the jersey are the same and enough to keep Texas A&M motivated as they move forward with their playoff push.
If former LSU coordinator Jimbo Fisher is going to lead his second program to a spot in the College Football Playoff (he coached Florida State to the inaugural College Football Playoff a season after winning the BCS National Championship against Auburn), then it will be up to Kellen Mond to continue to produce running the offense. Mond enters this weekend having thrown 16 touchdowns with just two interceptions. Mond will be the focus of the LSU defense this week, naturally. Whether or not Bo Pelini has the pass defense patched up enough to take Mond off his rhythm remains to be seen.
For Mond, this week will be about some personal redemption. Last year against LSU, Mond completed just 10-of-30 attempts for 92 passing yards. He went without a touchdown and was picked off three times by the eventual national champions. The good news for Mond is this LSU team is far removed from the national championship level of a year ago.