BATON ROUGE - LSU has now lost three straight football games, according to the point spread - 29-14 to Alabama as the Tigers were 14-point underdogs on Nov. 3, 30-24 at Arkansas last week as LSU was a 13-point favorite, and 54-42 to Rice on Saturday night as the Tigers were favored by 44.
But outside of gambling, No. 7 LSU has won two straight - 24-17 last week at Arkansas and, 42-10, over Rice on Saturday - to improve to 9-2 overall and 5-2 in the Southeastern Conference as it remained in line for one of the more impressive bowls, such as the Fiesta in Glendale, Arizona, on Jan. 1.
A 10-2 overall and 6-2 SEC regular season finish for second in the West will be LSU's with a win at Texas A&M (7-4, 5-3 SEC) at 6:30 p.m. Saturday on the SEC Network. That after predictions of 6-6 and 7-5 and a fifth place finish in the West. The Aggies defeated Alabama-Birmingham, 41-20, Saturday night.
"There are a lot of things it's going to mean," LSU coach Ed Orgeron said of the Texas A&M game. "But I don't want to tell the team yet. This is where we want to be. We want to be a 10-win team. This is going to be a huge game for our football team."
The game will match Orgeron against the most successful offensive coordinator in LSU history - Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher, who was at LSU from 2000-06 and produced four of the most successful quarterbacks in LSU history in Rohan Davey, Matt Mauck, JaMarcus Russell and Matt Flynn.
The Tigers' total passing yards of 372 on this night - 307 by quarterback Joe Burrow and 65 by backup Myles Brennan - was the most by LSU since Zach Mettenberger threw for 372 in a loss at Georgia in 2013.
By the third quarter, LSU was emptying its bench with Brennan, a sophomore, playing for the first time all season as Tiger Stadium also emptied from maybe 50,000 at kickoff to less than 30,000 by game's end.
Brennan replaced Burrow in the third quarter with the Tigers up 35-3. Brennan completed 4 of 6 passes for 65 yards, including a 39-yard connection with wide receiver Justin Jefferson to the Rice 16-yard line. Brennan hit Jefferson in stride on an out pattern to the wide side of the field on the play.
That set up a 3-yard touchdown run by reserve tailback Lanard Fournette for a 42-3 lead with 11 minutes left in the game.
Rice drove 75 yards in 13 plays, taking up 8:05 of the fourth quarter, to cut LSU's lead to 42-10 with 2:55 left in the game. Tailback Juno Otoviano scored for the Owls on a 5-yard run.
Burrow finished 20-of-28 passing for a career-high 307 yards and two touchdowns. Senior tailback Nick Brossette led the Tigers in rushing with 69 yards on 14 carries and two touchdowns on Senior Night. Tight end Foster Moreau also celebrated his Senior Night with a career-high five catches for a career-high 73 yards.
The Tigers went up 35-3 with 9:32 to play in the third quarter on a 2-yard run by Brossette to finish a 90-yard drive in seven plays. LSU led Rice 28-3 at the half.
LSU out-gained Rice 552 yards to 198. The Tigers' defense limited the Owls to 97 rushing yards on 43 carries for a 2.3-yard average.
"It's hard to be behind the sticks in Death Valley against that defense," Rice first-year coach Mike Bloomgren said.
The Tigers took a 7-0 lead on their first possession of the game on a 3-yard touchdown run by tailback Clyde Edwards-Helaire at the 11:06 mark of the first quarter. LSU moved 79 yards in 12 plays for the score.
LSU made it 14-0 on its next possession as threw a 38-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Stephen Sullivan with 5:52 to go in the first quarter. The 66-yard drive took only three plays.
The Tigers moved 79 yards in 10 plays to make it 21-0 at the 13:06 mark of the second quarter as Brossette scored on a 2-yard run.
Rice garnered one first down in the first quarter to eight by LSU and was held to -4 yards rushing on nine carries. LSU had Rice out-gained entering the second quarter with 175 yards to 13.
After LSU's third touchdown, the Tigers had the Owls out-gained, 216 yards to 13.
LSU finished the half with 339 yards to 59 and had 459 yards entering the fourth quarter to 123. LSU struck midway in the second quarter for the 28-0 lead on a 13-yard touchdown pass from Burrow to tight end Foster Moreau to climax an 88-yard drive in 10 plays.
Rice got on the board with 1:55 to go in the second quarter on a 51-yard field goal by Haden Tobola.
"Good night for our team," Orgeron said. "Foster Moreau had his best game. Obviously, it was a lesser opponent, but we wanted to throw the football. I wanted to get the rhythm back. I thought we did."
MOREAU TO SENIOR BOWL: LSU tight end Foster Moreau has accepted an invitation to play in the Senior Bowl on Jan. 26, Senior Bowl director Jim Nagy said on WNSP Radio 105.5 FM in Mobile, Alabama, on Saturday morning.
Nagy said the Senior Bowl is also considering LSU senior tailback Nick Brossette.
Moreau, who has started 29 games in his career after signing with LSU out of Jesuit High in New Orleans in 2015, entered the Rice game Saturday night with 11 catches on the season for 126 yards. He has 41 receptions in his career for 483 yards and four touchdowns and is known as a quality blocker.