BATON ROUGE, La. -- Todd Kinchen caught a 79-yard touchdown pass and Harvey Williams rushed 1 yard for another score Saturday night, leading Louisiana State to a 17-8 upset of No. 10 Texas A&M.
The Tigers intercepted four Lance Pavlas passes and used a heads-up defense to stymie several Aggie drives.
After a scoreless first half, Texas A&M stalled on its first series of the third quarter. Sean Wilson's punt was blocked by Mike Garrett, with the Tigers taking over at the Aggies 31. Five plays later, Pedro Suarez booted a 26-yard field for the 3-0 LSU lead.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, Louisiana State's Calvin Windom fumbled and Trent Lewis recovered for Texas A&M at the LSU 49.
Seven plays later, the Aggies lined up for an apparent 37-yard Layne Talbott field goal. But holder Brian Payne rolled out and passed incomplete to Dennis Ransom.
The Tigers, 3-1, took over at their 20 and gained just a yard on two plays. Facing third-and-9 at the LSU 21, Chad Loup hit Kinchen with a short pass at the 23. Kinchen cut toward the sideline, picked up blockers, then sprinted to the Aggie 35 and cut back, leaping into the end zone for the touchdown.
The stunned Aggies, 3-1, could do little after the score and punted to Kinchen, who took the ball at the LSU 17 and raced 60 yards through traffic to the Texas A&M 23.
Six plays later, Williams leaped over the middle of the line for the 1-yard score and the 17-0 lead.
Pavlas, who suffered the first two interceptions of the season in the first half, then mounted a furious 66-yard drive that culminated when he hit Doug Carter on a 13-yard touchdown pass. Pavlas passed to Shane Garrett for the 2-point conversion to narrow the lead to 17-8.
The Tigers ended the Aggies' hope of a comeback when Pavlas was intercepted for the third time, this time by Corey Raymond with 1:50 remaining.
A brutal first half of the game featured three unsportmanslike penalties and a player ejection. Two of those penalties went against the Tigers, each helping to kill LSU drives.
On Texas A&M's first series, Pavlas threw his first interception when Darrell McCorvey picked off a pass at the LSU 39.
The Aggies again moved the ball early in the second quarter, powered by a third-down swinging gate play that gained 9 yards when Garrett scooted down the sideline for the first down at the Tiger 42.
Four plays later, Darren Lewis took a pitchout and swept left, gaining 5 yards before being herded out of bounds by McCorvey. The two players exchanged words and Lewis forearmed McCorvey in the helmet, drawing an unsportsmanlike call and an ejection from the referee.
On the next play, the Aggies ran a reverse, with flanker Felton Ransby rolling out and throwing deep downfield, where McCorvey intercepted his second pass of the night.
LSU mounted its best drive of the half late in the second quarter. When the drive stalled, Pedro Suarez came on to try a 38-yard field goal. An A&M player and and LSU player eached jumped the snap as Suarez successfully kicked the field goal. The confused officials ruled the flag was inadvertant and ordered Suarez to kick again.
Derrick Frazier blocked the kick, ending LSU's best hope of a first- half score.
With less than 30 seconds remaining, Pavlas threw his second interception, this one at the LSU 4 to a leaping Anthony Marshall.
Pavlas was a miserable 2-of-7 with 2 interceptions, while Texas A&M gained 100 yards on the ground.
