Thursday, October 18, 2012

Football 2012: Week Eight

College Football News predicts LSU will defeat the Aggies 27-20. 

That sounds just about right to me. I've seen at least parts of every game the Aggies have played this season, and I watched LSU play against Florida, the only team to beat the Aggies and LSU this year. Florida's offense scored 20 points on the road against A&M and 14 at home against LSU. The Aggies scored 17 points against the Florida defense, and LSU scored 6 points. A comparison of results against a common opponent indicates to me the Aggies have an edge on offense, but LSU has a big advantage on defense. The game starts at 11:00 AM, so I won't have to be up after midnight to see how it came out, unlike last week.

Added 12:54 PM Saturday: Halftime score LSU 14 Aggies 12

I started my walk late this morning and missed the first seven minutes of the first quarter. The Aggies led 6-0 when I turned on the TV, and the first play I saw was a long Aggie touchdown called back on a chop block penalty. The Aggies eventually kicked a FG on the drive, so that penalty was a four point play in LSU's favor. After Manziel threw an interception, another penalty kept an LSU scoring drive alive. Then an Aggie fumble set up another short field for LSU, and a 12 point lead vanished in the last five minutes of the first half.

LSU doesn't appear to be in any mood to let Manziel run around working miracles, and they definitely are capable of winning today without all the help A&M is giving them.

Added 2:12 PM Saturday: Louisiana State leads 17-12 with under nine minutes remaining in the game. Aggies return the kickoff about 75 yards, but can't make a first down, much less a touchdown. Then they miss another FG attempt. Starting to look like this won't be Manziel's day. Too much LSU speed on defense.

Another pass interference penalty on 3rd and 12 keeps an LSU drive alive. Time running out on Johnny Football. Clock shows 3:20 and Manziel has just chunked another interception. On the first play after the turnover, LSU scores to make it 24-12 and probably drives the nail into the coffin.

With less than two minutes left (1:17) Aggies score to make it 24-19, but can't recover the onside kick. Consolation points in a game of giveaways and wasted opportunities. The Aggies will have to play flawless football if they want to hang in there with the better teams in this conference.

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