Kelly: Aggies' upset of LSU 'a bump in the road'

COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Riding a five-game winning streak and assured of playing successful adjacent week's Southeastern Conference rubric game, No. 5 LSU conscionable had to instrumentality attraction of underperforming Texas A&M to support its College Football Playoff hopes alive.

Instead, Devon Achane had a career-best 215 yards rushing with 2 touchdowns Saturday, and Texas A&M stunned LSU 38-23, each but surely knocking the Tigers retired of contention for the CFP.

"They person done immoderate unthinkable things and I don't privation this nonaccomplishment to astatine each instrumentality distant from what they've accomplished this year," LSU manager Brian Kelly said. "This was not a measurement back. This was a bump successful the roadworthy and they're going to larn from it."

Conner Weigman threw 2 TD passes for the Aggies (5-7, 2-6 SEC) and Demani Richardson returned a fumble for a score. The people was tied astatine 17 successful the 3rd 4th earlier A&M scored 21 consecutive points.

"It shows the benignant of squad we tin be," Achane said. "Just showing that it wasn't the play we wanted but came retired to bushed a top-[10] team."

LSU (9-3, 6-2, No. 5 CFP) had already won the SEC West and secured a accidental to play for the league rubric against unbeaten No. 1 Georgia, and a triumph determination could person enactment the Tigers successful the playoff. But with 3 losses, adjacent beating the Bulldogs apt won't beryllium enough.

"We conscionable weren't our champion today," Kelly said. "I'd similar to springiness you a crushed wherefore we weren't our champion but we conscionable weren't and we needed to beryllium better."

Kelly said helium didn't judge his squad overlooked the Aggies.

"We conscionable needed much juice, much occurrence and we conscionable seemed to deficiency that contiguous and that's connected me," Kelly said.

Kelly debuted with a nonaccomplishment to Florida State successful New Orleans and immoderate inconsistency followed. But the Tigers turned a country aft a location nonaccomplishment to Tennessee and vaulted into CFP contention with 4 consecutive SEC wins implicit Florida, Ole Miss, Alabama and Arkansas.

"This is hard. They've played large each year. They've done unthinkable things," Kelly said erstwhile asked what his connection to the Tigers was.

The Aggies, who opened the play ranked No. 6 but won't suffice for a vessel crippled for the archetypal clip since 2008, had a beardown decorativeness to their disappointing season. They won consecutive games for the archetypal clip since September aft snapping a six-game skid with a triumph implicit UMass past week.

"There's not a concealed to this," Texas A&M manager Jimbo Fisher said. "Just spell bash your job. There's nary magical formula."

Achane ran for 119 yards and a people earlier halftime to assistance A&M to a 17-10 lead.

"Their champion players played to their level today," Kelly said. "We didn't lucifer it. Our champion players needed to marque large plays and we fell abbreviated successful that area."

LSU opened the 2nd fractional with a nine-play, 71-yard drive, capped by a 19-yard tally by John Emery Jr. to necktie the people astatine 17.

But Edgerrin Cooper deed Jayden Daniels and forced him to fumble connected LSU's adjacent drive. Richardson scooped it up and dashed 37 yards for his 2nd touchdown this play to enactment A&M connected apical 24-17 with astir 7 minutes near successful the 3rd quarter.

"I deliberation determination was immoderate momentum plaything there," Kelly said. "I don't cognize if we ever truly recovered from it."

The Aggies extended the pb to 31-17 connected the archetypal play of the 4th fourth erstwhile Moose Muhammad III reeled successful a 21-yard TD drawback with 1 hand.

A 10-yard tally by Achane, who returned aft missing 2 games with a ft injury, made it 38-17 with astir 8 minutes to go.

A rowdy assemblage of much than 93,000 fans packed Kyle Field and immoderate began to unreserved the tract with astir 17 seconds left, causing a delay. It was a stark quality from past week, erstwhile astir of the assemblage emptied retired aft halftime connected a bedewed and acold day.

Those fans and respective 1000 much poured onto the tract erstwhile clip expired.

Daniels threw for 189 yards and ran for 84 much and Emery had 3 touchdowns for the Tigers, who mislaid their archetypal crippled since they fell 40-13 astatine location to Tennessee connected Oct. 8.

Emery chopped the pb to 38-23 with a 3-yard tally with astir 6½ minutes to go, but the 2-point conversion failed.

Daniels astir connected with Jaray Jenkins successful the extremity portion connected 4th down connected LSU's adjacent possession, but Tyreek Chappell knocked the shot retired of Jenkins' hands. The Aggies past ran retired the clock.

With their playoff chances each but nonexistent, Kelly's Tigers volition person to enactment this 1 down them rapidly if they anticipation to vie with the Bulldogs successful Atlanta.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.