While No. 6 Texas is trending upward as it travels to battle No. 21 LSU on Saturday in Baton Rouge, La., the Tigers are in desperation mode, needing a statement win over the Longhorns to keep alive their chances at a spot in the College Football Playoff.
Texas rose one spot from the CFP rankings while the Tigers dropped seven positions.
Texas (7-2, 4-2 SEC) has garnered three straight wins after back-to-back losses to unranked league foes, with two of those victories coming over ranked teams. The Longhorns’ surge has placed them back in both the race for the SEC crown and in a serious discussion for a berth in the CFP.
“I feel like we can play with anybody — I wouldn’t shy away from that,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said Monday. “‘Who’s elite and who’s not?’ I don’t know. That’s not fair for me to answer.
“We’re getting better as a team. I feel like individuals are improving on the team, not just frontline starters, but some of our developmental guys. Everybody’s improving.”
The Longhorns’ most recent outing was a 34-20 win at No. 18 Missouri on Nov. 7. Arch Manning threw for 297 yards and three touchdown passes, including the go-ahead score to Raleek Brown in the fourth quarter, with the latter added 85 yards and another score on the ground for Texas in the win.
Sarkisian said that his team would have to be even better to have success against LSU.
“One of the keys is something we’ve been harping on: taking practice to the game,” Sarkisian said. “We’ve practiced really well the last two weeks, all the way up until our Friday walkthroughs. We’ve got to continue to be situationally aware. Ultimately, having poise and composure on the road and doing it with a real sense of confidence is going to be needed Saturday night as well.”
Meanwhile, the Tigers (6-3, 3-3) return to the field after a 31-13 setback at home against then-No. 5 Alabama. Sam Leavitt completed 35 of 47 passes for 380 yards but no touchdowns for LSU in the loss. The Tigers gave up the game’s final 21 points after taking a 13-10 lead with 2:44 left in the third and had two drives stopped inside Alabama’s 10-yard line and two others halted at the Crimson Tide’s 36.
“The games we’ve needed to finish, we’ve gone 0-3 in those games,” LSU coach Lane Kiffin said Monday. “The inability to finish when you have a chance to finish games is what has let us down.”
LSU has responded this year after losses, beating Texas A&M 35-6 after dropping a game to Ole Miss and then handling Mississippi State 31-0 the week after losing to Kentucky 35-34 in OT.
“I don’t know if kids have changed nowadays, but I think a lot of times you’re seeing that teams actually rebound much better than they handle success,” Kiffin said.
“You see a lot of these games that don’t make sense to you on paper if you look at the week before. The good thing about that is we have a great team coming in here with great players and really challenging matchups, and we get to play them (at home).”