Before we go gushing about Derrius Guice’s school-record 285-yard rushing night in LSU’s 54-39 win over Texas A&M Thursday night, let’s acknowledge something here.

Danny Etling looked like an All-SEC quarterback, didn’t he?

Who ever would have thought that on a day where an LSU rusher would break the school’s single-game rushing record, the Tigers would actually PASS for more yards than they rushed for. That’s exactly what happened here as Etling completed 20 of 28 passes for 324 yards while Guice rushed for 285 of the Tigers’ 298 rushing yards.

It added up to a 622-yard day against the Tigers’ old defensive coordinator, John Chavis.

Who says LSU is offensively challenged?

Five takeaways

  1. Tough guy vs. flag football: For some reason, whenever LSU plays Texas A&M, it looks like tough guy football vs. flag football. The Tigers are more physical than the Aggies every year. The Aggies look like a threat to throw the ball some, but other than that, they get overwhelmed physically. It happened again here with Guice setting an LSU single-game rushing record against a defense that was supposed to have a new, physical identity under Chavis.
  2. The future looks bright: With four starters out with injuries, LSU got contributions from players who barely registered before the game. Freshman linebacker Devin White, seeing snaps for an injured Kendell Beckeith, had a crucial forced fumble and recovery, setting up a second quarter touchdown. Junior receiver Russell Gage, seeing more action because of an injury to Travin Dural, led LSU in receiving and freshman Dee Anderson was right behind him. It was truly a “next man up” day for LSU.
  3. Etling was brilliant: One of the things lost in the loss to Florida was that Etling played well. He did even better against Texas A&M, putting up his best effort — 20-for-28, 324 yards, 2 touchdowns — against the Aggies. It further reinforced that he’s the guy for the job for the Tigers.
  4. Coach ‘O’ makes his pitch: It was really a disservice to Ed Orgeron that he coached this game with rumors swirling that Tom Herman was being offered (and some erroneous reports that he had accepted) the LSU job. One thing that’s hard to do is getting a team ready to play hard and well every week. That’s something Orgeron, now 5-2 in his interim tenure, succeeded to do during his seven-game audition with LSU. The Tigers made crucial mistakes in the loss to Florida, but dominated the game. And with every reason to be flat against Arkansas (following a 10-0 loss to Alabama) and now, A&M, Orgeron got his teams to play well in both of those road games. That is an extremely difficult task for a coach — even Nick Saban’s Alabama team was flat against Chattanooga — but it’s something Orgeron has proven to be able to do. That deserves consideration. After all, even Tom Herman’s Houston teams have laid some eggs during his tenure.
  5. What bowl? Who knows?: After last week’s loss to Florida, it looked like the Sugar Bowl was out of the picture for LSU. But let’s say Vanderbilt upsets Tennessee, Florida State beats Florida and Alabama takes care of both Auburn and Florida. All of a sudden, LSU is in a glut of four-loss teams and maybe they’re back in that conversation. It can be anything from the Sugar to the Liberty Bowl and anything in between. It’s time to sit and wait to find out.

Report Card

Offense: A+ — For the first time in school history, LSU had a 300-yard passer (Etling) and a 200-yard rusher (Guice) in the same game. What more do you need to know?

LSU did what it wanted, when it wanted. The offensive line opened gaping holes for Guice and protected Etling, who made good decisions and put the ball on the money. He completed passes to eight receivers, including wide receivers, tight ends and fullbacks.

Most importantly, unlike the Florida game, offensive coordinator Steve Ensminger seemed to trust Etling and the passing game to make plays. And when Etling and his receivers delivered, it added up to a huge day.

Defense: B- — Sure, the Tigers, playing without arguably their two best players in linebackers Kendell Beckwith and Arden Key, gave up a ton of points, more than they had all year.

But for the first two and a half quarters, as the Tigers built a 34-10 lead, Dave Aranda’s men were as good as ever. Donnie Alexander and Devin White played well in Beckwith’s place. Tashawn Bower pressured quarterback Trevor Knight in Key’s place.

LSU did seem to let up a little bit late as Knight, who finshed with 211 yards and three touchdowns, got his game going with receivers Christian Kirk and Speedy Noil. But by the time LSU let the foot off the gas pedal and the Aggies started getting loose, the game was really getting out of hand.

When it mattered, they were good. They deserve some demerits for letting up, but given how shorthanded the Tigers were, this was still a good effort.

Special Teams: D — If anything was going to beat this team this game, it was bad special teams play.

The Tigers allowed kickoff returns of 66 and 34 yards. A squib kick turned into an onside kick and gave A&M great field position. Punter Josh Growden had a rough day, averaging but 35 yards per boot.

The only good thing was Colby Delahoussaye made his two short field goal attempts and finished the regular season a respectable 9-for-12 on field goals.

Coaching: A+ — There was every reason why LSU shouldn’t have played well this game. The Tigers were coming off a heartbreaking loss to Florida at home. That game cost them a shot to play their way to the Sugar Bowl and may have cost Orgeron the job. The Texas A&M game was on a short week, on the road. Key players were hurt or suspended.

Despite all that, Orgeron had LSU ready and playing well. LSU put on a clinic against the Aggies. Steve Ensminger dialed up a solid offensive game plan and Dave Aranda had his short-handed defense ready.

This was an outstanding job, considering the circumstances.

Overall: A — Outside of some issues finishing on defense, this was as complete a performance as one could hope for.

The offense put on a show. The defense was suffocating until the game got out of hand. The Tigers played with purpose and looked like the team fans hoped they would be.

Game plan

On offense, LSU knows better than any team that John Chavis likes to beat the opposing running game with numbers at the line of scrimmage. Given that, Ensminger trusted Etling to make plays with his arm and he delivered with a 324-yard performance. On a day where Guice set the school single-game rushing record, the Tigers actually threw for more yards than they ran for.

On defense, Aranda shifted some personnel around and had Trevor Knight’s number until it didn’t matter any more.

Game balls

Guice: With Fournette down, Guice wanted the ball and he got it 37 times, beating Fournette’s school record by a yard. Make no mistake: With Fournette heading for the NFL and Guice finishing the regular season with 1,249 yards despite being the backup in more than half the games, he belongs in preseason Hesiman Trophy watch lists next year.

LBs Alexander and White: The two split time in Beckwith’s spot and delivered 10 combined tackles. White’s strip of Trayveon Williams just before halftime — White simply took the ball away from Williams as he was tackling him at the A&M 20 — was arguably the key play in the game. At the time, LSU held a tight, 13-7 lead. The Tigers scored a touchdown two plays later to go up 20-7 and the game turned into an offensive shootout in the second half.

WRs Gage and Anderson: Coming into the day, the pair had a combined two career receptions (both by Anderson). By days end, they were LSU’s two leading receivers in Etling’s best game as the Tigers’ starting quarterback. Gage had five catches for 62 yards, including his first career touchdown and Anderson had two receptions for 59 yards, including a 42-yard bomb from Etling.