Jackson Harris puts on show in LSU rout over Texas A&M

BATON ROUGE, La.  – Before LSU wide receiver Jackson Harris hauled in two touchdown passes Saturday night against Texas A&M at Death Valley, he took the field thinking about a message from Tigers legend Jarvis Landry.

While meeting with Harris and his LSU teammates the night before, Landry reminded LSU’s receivers that the offense would eventually come down to them making plays. Those words were impossible to separate from the names Harris sees every day inside the receivers’ room.

Landry and players like Ja’Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson helped establish the standard at LSU. Jackson Harris delivered a performance worthy of that lineage to help LSU trounce Texas A&M 35-6 in front of a sellout crowd of 102,321. Harris finished with six receptions for 163 yards and two touchdowns.

LSU built toward that moment early. Running back Dilin Jones put the Tigers ahead with a one‑yard run with 9:37 to play in the first quarter. 

Jackson Harris Show

Texas A&M (2-2, 0-2 in SEC) answered with a 26-yard field goal from kicker David Olano with 8:46 left in the second quarter. The Jackson Harris Show took over from there. Harris caught a 16-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Sam Leavitt just before halftime.

Harris then opened the second half with a 57-yard touchdown reception that pushed LSU’s lead to 21-3. The Aggies had no answers on offense and defense.

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“Yeah, that’s credit to Coach Weis and Coach Kiffin,“ Harris said. “Just aggressive play calling. I love it. My heart was beating a little bit when they called it ‘cause I knew it was gonna work, and we’ve been repping it all week. So I was just excited that they called it. And, you know, we got a touchdown from it.”

Backup LSU quarterback Landon Clark added a pair of rushing touchdowns in the third quarter. He scored the first from four yards out with 6:16 remaining. The second was from two yards with 31 seconds left.

“We talked a lot with Jackson this week,” Kiffin said. “Even right after warm-ups as we were out there about really stepping up. (Harris) had really done really well. He just hadn’t gotten many opportunities yet as well. He really hadn’t got many opportunities. And when he had, he looked good.

“(Harris) ran well with the ball and, you know, things we’ve seen on tape. It’s why we brought him over here, you know, big, sleek outside receiver. So it was awesome to see. And a lot of those plays were kind of similar, you know, type play action, Tre’Dez-type of plays. It was really good.”

David Olano accounts for A&M points

For the Aggies, Olano’s field goals from 26 and 53 yards accounted for their only points. One year after reaching the College Football Playoff for the first time in school history, Texas A&M has been embarrassed for two consecutive weeks to start SEC play.

“We have to play better football,” Texas A&M coach Mike Elko said. “Again, I don’t know what else to say. We got outgained
506 to 197. We just got our butts whipped.”

Harris was a major reason LSU (3-1, 1-1 SEC) had its way against the Aggies. Sam Leavitt threw for 312 yards and two touchdowns with one interception while completing 17 of 23 passes. Conversely, Texas A&M quarterback Marcel Reed completed only 10 of 26 pass attempts for 106 yards and one interception.

“We have to be able to execute what we’re trying to execute,” Elko said. “I think we’ve got to look at everything. Not that we haven’t been already, but we have to look at everything and figure it out.”