Texas A&M 49, LSU 25. The Curse Is Dead in Baton Rouge
For thirty years we’ve waited for this. Every Aggie who’s sat through heartbreak after heartbreak in Death Valley finally got to watch Texas A&M walk in and beat LSU in their own house.
Forty-nine to twenty-five. Read that again.
The First Half
Let’s not pretend it started pretty. Marcel Reed looked shaky early, two picks, one of them deep in our own territory. LSU fed off the crowd noise and jumped ahead 18–14 at the half.
At that point, every Aggie fan had that sinking feeling in their stomach. You know it. The “we’re gonna blow this” feeling. We’ve lived in that headspace for a decade. Missed tackles, blown assignments, penalties at the worst possible moments. It had all the makings of another Baton Rouge nightmare.
But something happened in that locker room.
The Turn
Whatever Mike Elko said in that locker room needs to be bottled and sold on University Drive. The second half was the kind of football A&M fans have been begging to see for years.
Marcel Reed went from rattled to ruthless. He finished with 202 passing yards, 108 rushing, and four total touchdowns. The offense finally looked like it had rhythm and identity.
The offensive line and defensive line mauled LSU’s front. We handed the ball off to a tight end. It was the kind of football that makes you believe this thing might actually be real.
The Moment
There’s always one play that flips a program’s fortune, and it came with KC Concepcion’s 79-yard punt return.
It was the third quarter, the crowd was still hanging on, and LSU kicked it deep. KC fielded it clean, hit one juke, and split the coverage like it was drawn on a whiteboard. The noise evaporated. The maroon section exploded.
The Defense
That defense last night was flat-out mean. From the second half on, it felt like LSU was trying to block a tornado with a pool noodle. Casius Howell was everywhere, playing like a man who’d been personally insulted by the idea of giving up a single yard. He lived in LSU’s backfield, ripping through their line like it was made of cardboard.
Every snap looked like a prison break. The front seven just mauled people. LSU’s run game? Buried. The crowd that was roaring in the first half turned into background noise by the fourth quarter. It genuinely felt that the defense was there to choke you out, then choke your granny out, and then dig up your ancestors and choke them out too.
Final Word
Texas A&M went into Baton Rouge and stomped out three decades of demons.
Marcel Reed was surgical. KC Concepcion gave us a highlight for the ages. Casius Howell became a star. The big uglies owned the trenches. The defense bullied LSU until the lights dimmed.
This one felt different. It felt like something bigger than a win. It felt like a program turning a corner.
