They’re calling it the “Anxiety Bowl” as Texas A&M travels to Death Valley to face LSU at night on Saturday, and both teams are licking their wounds after Week 3 losses.

One of those losses was embarrassing after the Aggies lost to Kentucky at home, and the other was a heavyweight fight against Ole Miss in what was one of the most anticipated games of the entire season for LSU.

Now both squads badly need a bounce-back win, and only one is going to get it.

Texas A&M owns the recent head-to-head series, but context matters

Texas A&M has beaten LSU in back-to-back seasons. And you may say, well, it was Brian Kelly who was the head coach, and that’s absolutely fair to point out.

But you also have to point out in the same breath that LSU defensive coordinator Blake Baker has been a part of those defenses for back-to-back seasons and now enters Year 3 matching up with quarterback Marcel Reed. It’s not a coincidence that Reed has played his best football against LSU, a team that has struggled defensively stopping mobile quarterbacks.

The No. 1 question that has to be answered is how will Baker adjust his defense with all the new pieces, like TJ Dottery, to help contain Reed and make him stay in the pocket and play quarterback? Baker has had two years of tape on Reed now. At some point, adjustments have to show up.

LSU’s offense should be salivating for a get-right game

On the flip side, LSU’s offense presents a nightmare matchup for Mike Elko’s defense. Elko and this defense really struggled handling motion and having the right assignments in the right spots against Kentucky.

If you know anything about how LSU uses that offense, they have to be salivating watching that Kentucky tape and how they were able to manipulate A&M’s defense. The Aggies’ defense was supposed to be the unit that at least gave them a high floor this season. And if that looks a little bit shaky, especially in their first road game of the entire season, I don’t know what to expect.

That’s the part that concerns me the most in this game. A&M’s defense was supposed to be the anchor for this team. If the anchor is dragging, there’s nothing else to fall back on.

I’ve looked for every avenue to lean toward Texas A&M, and I just don’t see it

If you know my background, you know I try to find any avenue to have Texas A&M win this game. I’m an A&M fan. I’ve never hidden that. But I just don’t see it. I don’t care that Marcel Reed has played his best football against Baker.

Maybe this game is competitive, but in every avenue, like I’m Doctor Strange looking at every possibility of any kind of answer here, I think it’s going to be an LSU victory no matter what. I see more likelihood of an LSU blowout than I do an A&M win.

And if that happens, some serious questions are going to have to be brought up about this A&M staff and whether or not Elko can hire the right coordinators. That’s not a fun conversation, but after a home loss to Kentucky and a possible blowout loss at Death Valley, it would demand that kind of conversation. Ultimately, I’m picking LSU, and I don’t feel good about it.