The road is wide open, and as the SEC’s usual contenders steer erratically between lanes, two dark horses are on a collision course.
A five-team pileup of one-loss teams clogs the standings, but above them with unblemished SEC records are No. 14 Texas A&M and No. 8 LSU. They face off Saturday in College Station, Texas, on six-game winning streaks apiece with intent on stealing the spotlight in a sport that had been obsessed with Georgia, Alabama and Texas as contenders; those three enter Week 9 with one loss in the SEC.
The parity prompts the query: Why can’t Texas A&M win the SEC? And why not LSU?
“I think that’s pretty clear, that this group kind of understands that now,” LSU coach Brian Kelly told CBS Sports after a 34-10 demolition of Arkansas.
LSU (6-1, 3-0 SEC) was relegated to the back of the list of contenders after opening the season with a loss to USC. The Trojans have struggled since then, but it was clear after Week 1 that LSU has improved defensively after a historically bad group flopped in 2023. The turnaround has been re-tooled by defensive coordinato, Blake Baker, who LSU successfully lured away from Missouri with the richest contract for an assistant coach ($2.5 million) in college football.
LSU is better in every category defensively, particularly against the run (No. 33 nationally) and with its back against the wall. It’s top-20 in touchdowns allowed from the red zone, a more than 100-spot improvement from a year ago.
And at Arkansas, the Tigers never trailed against a team who beat Tennessee in that very stadium two weeks prior. The Razorbacks have been otherwise competitive in the SEC this year, but were held to under 300 yards of offense. As Georgia smothered Texas and garnered most of the sport’s eyes on…
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