No. 3 Texas A&M finds motivation from strength coach in win over No. 20 LSU

BATON ROUGE, La. (KBTX) - Texas A&M director of strength and conditioning Tommy Moffitt raised both hands towards the lights of Tiger Stadium, soaking in the cheers of the Aggie contingent that filled the southeast corner of Death Valley.

Appreciation was not the reaction he received the last time he was in Baton Rouge. After 22 years on staff with the Tiger football program, he was the unceremonious collateral damage of a coaching change when Brian Kelly took over the program in 2022.

Saturday, his third-ranked A&M players gave him another moment to celebrate under the lights he once called home after a 49-25 victory over No. 20 LSU, extending the Aggies’ undefeated win streak to eight games.

“This one was an important one to him… Definitely played a little bit of this game for Moffitt, because he has so much passion for the game and he does so much for us,” A&M quarterback Marcel Reed said.

Moffitt built a foundation for LSU’s success in the turn of the century, training Tiger football players who won national championships in 2003, 2007 and 2019. After the game, Moffitt took a picture on the tiger-eye logo at midfield of the stadium with his strength and conditioning team and posted the moment on X. One LSU commenter noted that LSU fans might be mad he stood on the iconic logo to celebrate, but noted that he gave that logo meaning during his time in Baton Rouge.

Moffitt returned to collegiate strength coaching by joining head coach Mike Elko’s staff in Aggieland prior to the 2024 season.

“Coach Moffitt is a big part of our program,” defensive lineman DJ Hicks said. “He makes us better, makes us stronger, makes us faster. So, yeah, we play for him, for sure.”

Prior to the 2025 season, the Aggie football program continually found new ways to fade as the season wore on. A&M’s 2016 campaign, the last time the Aggies started 6-0 in a season, dwindled to an 8-4 finish with November losses.

Saturday, taking cue from Moffitt’s lessons in toughness, the Aggies toughed out another win that featured plenty of self-inflicted adversity.

After the Aggies took a 14-7 lead in the first quarter, miscues put A&M under pressure. A botched snap led to a blocked punt safety. A red-zone interception thrown by Reed turned into seven points for the Tigers. Reed’s second interception of the game handed LSU three points to close out the first half and give them an 18-14 lead.

“I told them, ‘You’re the better team, but you have to play better football and if you don’t play better football, you’re going to let one slip away tonight,’” Elko said. “That’s honestly what I told them at halftime.”

On the first drive of the second half, A&M got back into the game the old school way — kicking up mud in the ground game. The Aggies put together a nine-play, 56-yard drive that featured eight running plays. It was the first of three consecutive offensive drives for A&M that ended in a touchdown.

“We didn’t establish the run particularly well in the first half,” Elko said. “I know we made some adjustments with some of the ways we were trying to attack them in the run game and I think we were able to get it going more consistently in the second half.”

In the days leading up to Saturday’s trip to Death Valley, Moffitt taught his team some lessons about winning in Baton Rouge. Kick LSU often and early and the crowd will empty out of the stands in the second half. According to Reed, he sparked motivation by attaching Kelly’s face to a tackling dummy that took a punishment from A&M players.

The beat down translated into Saturday’s game. By the time physical tight end Nate Boerkircher took a hand off and rumbled into the end zone on a fullback dive, the Tiger faithful turned their gaze to the nearest exit. From outside the stadium, chants of “Fire BK,” could be heard resonating off the stone walls of Tiger Stadium.

Revenge was realized in multiple forms for the Aggies Saturday. A&M notched its first win in Tiger Stadium since 1994, well before Moffitt began his career at LSU and easily prior to the birth of all of A&M’s roster. It handed the Aggies their first 8-0 start since 1992 and kept them on top of the Southeastern Conference.

“I was the starting point guard on my high school basketball team the last time we won here,” Elko said. “So, if that’s any indication of how challenging it is to win here, you can put that image on your mind.”

After the singing of The Aggie War Hymn in the southeastern corner of the field, A&M’s players rushed to the field’s barrier to slap hands and take selfies with the traveling contingent of Aggie fans. There was a little more exuberance to this celebration than any of the seven previous victories of the season.

“I think the last two years in a row, in the second half against LSU, we’ve outscored them 66-6. That’ll win you a lot of football games,” Elko said. “I think that’s a testament to Coach Moffitt, what he does with these guys, how he trains them and then, I think, a little bit how they feel about him when we play this game.”

Away from the main postgame festivities, Moffitt stood on a field that had been so familiar previously, listening to the cheers of A&M’s fanbase rain down on his new team. In that moment, the Aggie offensive line brought the celebrations to him, dumping a cooler of Gatorade over his head.