Beating LSU is the Cure to Battered Aggie Syndrome
BAS is real, and it's about time it was eradicated.
Battered Aggie Syndrome has been ruining the hearts and minds of Texas A&M fans for decades. The program has been one of the most disappointing for almost its entire existence, especially with the abundance of resources at its disposal. It can be argued that there’s no place more equipped to compete at a high level than A&M, yet the results haven’t ever seemed to consistently speak to that assertion.
But that might be changing in 2025. Head coach Mike Elko has turned a program that, while mediocre under Jimbo Fisher, Kevin Sumlin, Mike Sherman, and seemingly every coach before him, into a place that’s on the precipice of winning the SEC and making it to the College Football Playoff. Both would be team firsts, and as such, folks in College Station are appropriately buzzing with excitement.
Those accomplishments aren’t foregone conclusions, though, and one of the largest roadblocks to hitting those goals stands in the Aggies’ way this Saturday in Baton Rouge. Yes, LSU has been a disappointment—at least if you ask their fans—but heading to Tiger Stadium at night is a tall task for any team, let alone one that’s trying to overcome what some have ascertained to be a supernatural hex.
Is Texas A&M superior to LSU? In almost every way. The Aggies have an offense that, no matter the game, has found ways to do what is necessary to win. Marcel Reed is by no means the best quarterback in the country, nor even in his own conference, but he’s more than capable of leading an operation that features one of the best offensive lines in the nation, as well as some of the most dominant and athletic receivers west of the Mississippi River. That’s not to say that Reed is just a cog in a machine, though. His quickness and elusiveness make him tough to defend, and given that LSU’s defense—which has vastly improved from a season ago—has struggled in the past against quarterbacks like Reed (and Reed himself), the Aggies could be poised to put up some points on Saturday night.
That LSU defense—which has held opponents to just 15.3 points per game—might be the Tigers’ only saving grace because their offense has been downright putrid through the first half of the season. With a less-than-healthy Garrett Nussmeier under center, LSU ranks 101st in scoring offense (20.5 points per game) and 99th in total offense (340.7 yards per game). But Nussmeier’s ailments aren’t the main culprit. When the Tigers throw the ball, which they do 56.8% of the time, they find at least a little success. It’s the ground game where things have completely gone off the rails. LSU is averaging just 4.2 yards per carry and 110.5 rushing yards per game, both numbers far below the program’s standard. Or, as one anonymous account on Twitter put it: “This is Louisiana State University, and we can’t run the f****** football?!?!?!”
Death Valley at night is also a factor that can’t be discounted. In Brian Kelly’s three-plus seasons in Baton Rouge as the head coach at LSU, he’s 20-1 in night games at Tiger Stadium. That’s not too shabby, though the lone loss was a demoralizing 42-13 blowout defeat at the hands of Alabama last season. What’s slightly more concerning for Kelly is that he’s just 5-10 against ranked opponents at LSU, including last week’s road loss to Vanderbilt. Needless to say, Kelly’s equity with the fanbase is at an all-time low, and Texas A&M has the opportunity to go into Baton Rouge and absolutely send him and his team to the Phantom Zone.
Can the Aggies do it? Absolutely. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that I’m expecting it to happen. From everything I’ve seen from Elko’s squad, I’ve come to realize that fading Texas A&M in 2025 is a fool’s errand. This isn’t the Aggies under Fisher, Sumlin, or Sherman—this is a revamped operation that preaches discipline, hard work, and most importantly of all, winning. The culture in College Station was broken prior to Elko’s arrival, and now it’s flourishing like never before. If my forecast is correct, that means that a victory in Tiger Stadium on Saturday night is on the horizon.
For any Texas A&M fan who is weary that this season will be like those of the past that ended in disappointment, I’d encourage you to take this journey week by week. Every indication points to this year being different, and there appear to be no signs of that stopping anytime soon. Sure, could Texas A&M theoretically lose to LSU? Yes. But that’s just one loss, and in the expanded College Football Playoff era, one defeat doesn’t kill a team. Of course, Aggies fans hope that they never have to experience such disappointment again.
I know many folks who root for Texas A&M, and while I don’t completely understand the traditions, I still (somewhat) appreciate the passion and support that they flood upon their team. While some might accuse them of being weird, I’m going to choose to root for the team’s success so that the people I care about who love the Aggies get to experience the joy they’ve been seeking for decades. Because Battered Aggie Syndrome is real, and it’s about time that it was eradicated from this earth completely. Beating LSU would get us one step closer to accomplishing that goal.
(Please don’t take this as an admission of my love for Texas A&M. I am a Frog for life and will never be caught wearing any sort of 12th Man gear. Any picture you see of me in such attire is photoshopped and/or artificial intelligence and is in no way, shape, or form real.)