ESPN’s College GameDay panel is split on Texas A&M-LSU as the Aggies try to rebound from a troubling SEC-opening loss to Kentucky.
No. 23 Texas A&M faces No. 10 LSU on Saturday night with Mike Elko’s Aggies suddenly needing answers instead of hype.
A week after a stunning 31-21 home loss to Kentucky, Texas A&M heads into Tiger Stadium at 2-1 overall and 0-1 in the SEC.
LSU owns the same record after falling to Ole Miss, making Saturday’s 6:30 p.m. CT showdown a significant early-season test for two teams trying to avoid an 0-2 conference start.
ESPN’s College GameDay panel wasn’t united on which team will respond.
Desmond Howard and celebrity guest picker Johnny Knoxville selected Texas A&M, while Nick Saban, Pat McAfee and Kirk Herbstreit went with LSU.
That split makes sense considering how many questions A&M created for itself against Kentucky.
Quarterback Marcel Reed struggled to consistently get the Aggies moving, while a defense expected to be one of the program’s strengths had breakdowns at multiple levels.
Elko made it clear afterward that the response matters more than excuses.
“Saturday wasn’t up to the standard that we want it to be,” Elko said this week. “The challenge on us now is to respond.”
There’s at least some recent history working in A&M’s favor.
The Aggies have beaten LSU in three of the past four meetings and return to the scene of one of their biggest victories of 2025.
Reed accounted for 310 total yards and four touchdowns in last season’s 49-25 demolition in Baton Rouge, throwing for 202 yards while rushing for a career-high 108 yards and two scores.
That version of Reed would change the entire equation Saturday night.
Texas A&M has also won back-to-back games against LSU and is trying to win consecutive games in Baton Rouge for the first time since the Aggies’ five-game winning streak in the series from 1991-95.
But none of that fixes what happened against Kentucky.
A&M’s season isn’t going to be defined by one ugly September loss. How the Aggies respond to it inside one of college football’s toughest environments, however, could tell us plenty about where this team is headed.
