College football has something of an odd history with Thanksgiving night games. Historically the colleges have ceded the daytime slots to the NFL, with the Dallas Cowboys and the Detroit Lions having a lock on those two spots. At night, however, there has always been a college game, but the closest thing that college football had to a Thanksgiving rivalry was the Texas A&M and Texas game that happened 64 times on Turkey Day before ceasing to exist as a rivalry in 2011.
Until a rivalry steps up to fill the void (looking at you Mississippi and Mississippi State) the colleges are going with a by-committee approach and as a result we had A&M taking on LSU in that spot in 2016.
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What we did get through was a high-powered offensive football game with big plays all over the place. The Tigers beat the Aggies 54-39 and we had a fourth quarter where the teams combined for 42 points.
We had backup LSU running back Derrius Guice breaking out for a 45-yard touchdown less than two minutes into the game before finishing was a school record 285 yards to go along with four rushing touchdowns. The Tigers also saw quarterback Danny Etling throw for 324 yards (and two scores) as the team had a 200 yard rusher and a 300 yard passer in the same game for the first time in school history.
You would expect to think that this kind of noise on the field would dominate the headlines, but the LSU play in College Station was nothing compared to the behind the scenes goings-on in Texas. LSU had been talking contract with Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher about their head coaching opening, but reports suggest that Fisher and his agent have asked for astronomical money.
As a result, the LSU powers that be took a little side trip whilst in the Lone State State, meeting with Tom Herman of Houston to gauge his interest in the position.
That though is news for another day, so check out these highlights if you missed what was a wild start to the college football weekend.
