All the talk Thursday was that LSU might have its next football coach in Tom Herman.

What about the job the interim coach did Thursday night in College Station?

Five days after a heartbreaking loss to Florida, Ed Orgeron had LSU bouncing back strong behind Derrius Guice’s LSU-record 285 rushing yards and Danny Etling’s career-high 324 passing yards in a 54-39 win at Texas A&M.

Guice, one of four backups starting for injured or suspended Tigers stars, had four touchdowns, including a pair of 45-yard scampers as LSU produced a season-high point total and piled up more than 620 total yards.

What it means

Let’s start with Texas A&M. For the Aggies, it means they can forget about a New Year’s Six bowl. Falling to 8-4, 4-4 in the SEC, the Aggies won’t have much argument against a 9-3 Tennessee, an 8-4 Florida or an 8-4 Auburn.

And it means the story of the Kevin Sumlin Aggies continues. Once again, A&M collapsed as the physical SEC schedule wore them down. LSU was a more physical team Thursday, even without four of its best players.

Now, let’s tackle LSU. It means the Tigers are 7-4. It means they will get a better bowl.

What does it mean for Orgeron? Probably nothing good. Even as the game was unfolding, stories were breaking that Herman, the highly sought after Houston coach, was being offered the job and there was buzz that he will accept as soon as Saturday.

LSU did not confirm the reports, instead issuing a statement saying it will take its time in finding a head coach.

What I liked

For LSU, you had to like the way the Tigers responded from a 16-10 loss to Florida and the loss of arguably its three best players since that game.

LSU was without injured running back Leonard Fournette, tackles leader Kendell Beckwith because of injury and Arden Key, the Tigers’ sack artist. One could easily argue those are LSU’s three best players.

But despite the missing players, Derrius Guice was outstanding (again) for Fournette, Donnie Alexander and Devin White both had moments replacing Beckwith, and Tashawn Bower provided pretty good pressure off the edge in Key’s place.

You also had to like the play of Danny Etling, who completed 20 of 27 passes and two touchdowns for LSU and, importantly, hit some early passes to loosen up the Texas A&M defense to help open up holes for Guice.

For Texas A&M, you had to like the toughness of Trevor Knight, who played through a bad shoulder to throw a pair of touchdown passes to Christian Kirk.

What I didn’t like

Earlier this season, the reports were that the “flag football” reputation of Texas A&M was a thing of the past and John Chavis, in his second season, had finally reinvented the Aggies defense as a group physical enough to stand up to SEC fronts.

Forget that.

LSU gashed the Aggies front with huge holes and when A&M defenders did get to Guice, he either broke tackles or fell forward through the tackle for extra yards. With a full season of work under it, it can be said emphatically: Texas A&M is still not physical enough to compete in the SEC.

For LSU, the special teams are a mess. Texas A&M had a long kickoff return and Cameron Gamble flubbed a squib kick and hit it right to one of the front linemen like an onside kick.

They weren’t as bad as they were against Florida, where a bobbled snap killed a chip-shot field goal and a fumbled kickoff return gave the Gators a field goal, but it continued a tough stretch run.

Who’s the man

With Fournette possibly not wearing an LSU uniform again (if you had an ankle injury that needed to heal, would you play in, say, the Liberty Bowl?), is there a better starting running back in the SEC than Guice?

He can break tackles with pure strength. He can make you miss him in a phone booth. He can run away from you. He can run through you.

He did it all against Texas A&M Thursday.

Key plays

  • Guice’s 45-yard touchdown run on LSU’s first possession set the tone. It sent the message the Tigers would not be flat on a short week coming off a heartbreaking loss.
  • The game was still close — LSU had a 13-7 lead — when LSU backup linebacker Devin White ripped the ball away from Texas A&M running back Trayveon Williams at the Aggies 20 with 39 seconds left in the first half. Two plays later, Etling hit Malachi Dupre for a 20-yard touchdown pass.
  • Guice had another explosive touchdown run, from 45 yards, to give the Tigers a 27-10 lead in the third quarter. The rout was on.

What’s next?

Boy, is that a loaded question. A week from Sunday, both will learn their bowl fate.

But before that, LSU will likely have a new coach, apparently/perhaps Tom Herman. Does that mean Orgeron won’t be around for a bowl? Will he be on a Herman staff? Will Dave Aranda be there?

Heck, will Herman really be the coach, or was this all erroneous? There were reports Thursday night that Texas still is in play for his services.

As for Texas A&M, is Kevin Sumlin on some kind of hot seat now? He is anything but Mr. November. Every year the Aggies collapse down the stretch.

What’s the talk going to be after another collapse this season?