It was an absolutely heartbreaking, wild ride, but your Texas A&M Aggies found a way to win Saturday night at Kyle Field, defeating LSU 38-23 to move to 5-0 in SEC play and take the SOLE POSSESSION OF THE FIRST PLACE TAKES THE SEC!

And honestly, I still can’t believe it happened. I’ll be honest with you, I was in a dark place at halftime. A&M was down 10, and it probably should have been a lot more. The defense missed tackles and left receivers open down the field, and the offense looked very similar to how they looked against Notre Dame. I was angry at the team, but I was just as angry at myself for letting myself believe again. Because that first half evoked a feeling that Aggie fans have felt so often. It felt like Battered Aggie Syndrome in its most classic form.

And then everything changed.

Marcel Reed will get a lot of credit, and rightly so. He came off the bench in the third quarter in the biggest game of his career and ran the zone read with ease, sparking the LSU defensive rush (to the tune of three rushing touchdowns). He provided a spark when A&M desperately needed one, and an offense that had been dramatically stagnant all but one night suddenly came alive and took control of the game.

But let’s also talk about defense.

It was far from a perfect night for the defense, allowing LSU to drive into A&M territory seemingly at will for much of the night. But make no mistake: In that crucial third quarter, the defense was just as impressive as the offense, especially transfer CB BJ Mayes. After missing the first part of the year with a concussion and then switching positions to nickel after Tyreek Chappell’s season-ending injury, Mayes came up big in the biggest moments with two interceptions in the third quarter. Those picks set up the attack with short fields and were the absolute turning point in a game that seemed impossible to turn around just a few minutes earlier.

Did LSU mistakes play a big role in this game? Naturally. Losing the turnover battle and missing four (FOUR?!?!) field goals is a fantastic way to lose a game. But A&M still had to capitalize on those mistakes, and in the second half, they did so in the most blissful way imaginable.

I talked about the familiar painful feeling that I and many Aggies had at halftime, but now I feel something quite strange. It is beyond hope, it is more like faith. It’s the trust that Mike Elko, his coaches and his players are starting to earn as this season progresses. They prove that this team is different, that this program is different. And as a result, they find themselves in a position a Texas A&M team hasn’t been in for a while: 5-0 in conference play for the first time since 1998 (the last year they won a conference title, mind you), and holding the top spot in the SEC for the first time entering the month of November.

There’s still a lot of football to be played, including two SEC road games. Nothing is insured. But that’s a concern for another day. If you’re an Aggie right now, it’s hard to do anything but smile.