Lane Kiffin and Mike Elko combating early season tension as No. 10 LSU hosts No. 23 Texas A&M

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Lane Kiffin's first two home games as LSU's coach were runaway victories. His third, against Texas A&M, is bound to be more intense.

The No. 10 Tigers (2-1, 0-1 SEC) and No. 23 Aggies (2-1, 0-1) both are coming off their first losses of the season last weekend. Whoever loses in Death Valley on Saturday night will find their College Football Playoff hopes hanging by a thread before the end of September.

“One of the best things about life is you can learn lessons about how to get kicked in the face and how to keep going and get up," said Texas A&M coach Mike Elko, whose team surprisingly fell at home to Kentucky last week. "Now we’ve got to get up and go to Baton Rouge and we’ve got to pull it together.”

Kiffin expressed little doubt that the Aggies, and his own team, would bounce back with better performances.

“Every week is new,” Kiffin asserted. “You can’t look at that game last week and think that’s how Texas A&M is going to show up and play."

The Aggies have “too many good players, and Elko’s a great coach,” Kiffin added.

LSU had an exhausting Week 3, traveling to face rival Mississippi in a game that might surpass every college football regular season game in 2026 — if not some CFP games — in terms of hype. The college football world had been eagerly awaiting Kiffin's return to Ole Miss since he left the CFP-bound Rebels at the end of the 2025 regular season in order to coach at LSU.

It didn't go the Tigers' way. Trailing 24-7, they rallied to tie it in the fourth quarter, but ultimately could not deny Rebels quarterback Trinidad Chambliss in Ole Miss' 32-24 triumph .

Kiffin's team didn't have much time to regroup before getting ready for what could be another tough SEC clash.

"We got to move on because we can’t let that missed opportunity have to do with us losing another game,” Kiffin said.

The Tigers are entering their first game this season without standout tight end Trey'Dez Green and hybrid linebacker-safety Dashawn Spears.

“Dashawn and Trey’Dez are extremely unique and unique in what we use them to do,” Kiffin said while discussing the challenge of filling those voids.

Green, who's caught 14 passes for 222 yards and a touchdown this season, was hurt after making a first-down catch in the fourth quarter at Mississippi. While Green's injury is not believed to be season-ending, the duration of his absence remains unclear. His primary backups are Zach Grace and Malachi Thomas.

“Zach’s done a really good job — really improved, knows his stuff really well, good blocker,” Kiffin said. “Malachi, it’s been a little bit up and down.”

Kiffin said Spears' attributes included his length, as well as his ability to function in man-to-man coverage and to blitz. He was trying to pressure Chambliss when his knee gave out in the first half at Ole Miss.

“A really special player,” Kiffin said. “That’s going to be a really tough loss for us.”

Aggies quarterback Marcel Reed threw two interceptions on the Kentucky side of the field and his 21 incomplete passes came at some key moments — including on pivotal fourth-down plays — in last weekend's 31-21 loss to the Wildcats.

That has lead to some scrutiny of Reed this week, but Elko lashed back at his QB's critics.

“Let’s be careful that we don’t lose faith in the guy who has led us to an awful lot of victories," Elko said. “People can say whatever they want, and they can clip whatever they want, and they can put whatever little bit of evidence on film that they want, but he’s been a really, really successful quarterback at Texas A&M. People better not forget that.”

Reed helped A&M reach the CFP as a sophomore last season. He is 15-6 in his career as a starter. But now he'll have to function without receiver Terry Bussey, who is out for the season because of a lower body injury.

Kiffin also cautioned against underestimating the dual-threat Reed, who rushed for 80 yards last week.

“Our ability to contain him is going to be such a critical piece of this game," Kiffin said. "We got to be really, really sound in what we’re doing on defense.”

LSU quarterback Sam Leavitt, a high-profile transfer from Arizona State, misfired on a couple crucial throws at Ole Miss, including on play when Grace was open along the goal line for a potential tying touchdown in the final minutes.

Leavitt finished 16 of 27 passing for 158 yards, one TD and a game-sealing interception in the end zone at Ole Miss. Leavitt has been intercepted five times in three games.

“We’ve got to do a better job in our passing game of being consistent with more completions,” Kiffin said. “We have a lot of incompletions, a lot of dead plays where you’re not getting anything.”

Kiffin said Leavitt was challenged by a good Rebels pass rush and that having to scramble often can affect a QB's accuracy. Kiffin also commended Leavitt on his running ability and his resilience, but added that Leavitt knows he has to “do a better job ... and deliver the ball on time" in the passing game.

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