Texas A&M To Fire Kevin Sumlin After LSU Game: Report

COLLEGE STATION, TX — Time may have finally run out for Texas A&M head football coach Kevin Sumlin. Despite downplaying rumors at his weekly press conference on Tuesday, reports surfaced later in the evening that he'll be fired after this Saturday's game in Baton Rouge, Louisiana against LSU.

"Why wouldn't I?" Sumlin said when asked if he would be back heading the Aggies next season. When the media pressed and told him they'd heard differently, Sumlin replied, "Well, I haven't heard that."

Sumlin was pretty much on the hot seat when the season began after three-consecutive years when the Aggies posted identical 8-5 records — each with an epic November collapse that followed a blazing start to the top 10. Then Texas A&M blew a 34-point lead at UCLA in the 2017 season opener, which prompted Houston lawyer and A&M Board of Regent member Tony Buzbee, who posted on social media the next day Sumlin should be fired.

The seat got even hotter after the Aggies struggled the next week at home against Nicholls State from the FCS (formerly known as Division 1-AA), and then played a rather lackadaisical first half against a mediocre Louisiana-Lafayette team the next week. But a shootout win over Arkansas, a win over South Carolina and then a tight loss against No. 1 Alabama cooled the rumors a bit.

The Aggies went to Florida and beat the Gators, 19-17, but then got blasted at home in back-to-back weeks by Mississippi State (35-14) and Auburn (42-27), ratcheting up the "fire Sumlin" rumors again. Texas A&M destroyed New Mexico in the team's final home game and then beat Ole Miss, 31-24, on the road last week. But a 7-4 record heading into LSU doesn't sit well with the Aggie faithful, who yearn for more.

Sumlin set the bar his first year in 2012 when the Aggies went 11-2 with a win over No. 1 Alabama and a Cotton Bowl win over Oklahoma, 41-13. Redshirt freshman Johnny Manziel won the Heisman Trophy that season. A&M went 9-4 in 2013 with a bowl win over Duke.

But since then, the Aggies have gone 8-5 each season that was punctuated with bowl game losses in 2015 and 2016. The Aggies have lost six straight games to LSU, including all five under Sumlin, who hired LSU defensive coordinator John Chavis three years ago and still hasn't beaten the Tigers.

Two recent national championship coaches have been rumored to be the next in line at Texas A&M. Clemson's Dabo Swinney and Florida State's Fisher were named as two prominent targets before the season even started.

When asked Tuesday if he'd been treated fairly in his six seasons at A&M, he downplayed that question as well.

"I don't live my life in broad general statements," Sumlin said. "I came here to Texas A&M to win football games. What we do and how we've done it has been the right way, and it will continue to be the right way.

"I'm in the process right now on working on winning this week," Sumlin said. "And I think what this team has done is been able to focus on what's important in this building, and as a coach or as a player in this time, you can't worry about what people say. What you can worry about is the response of our team and the response of the people in this building and the trust level and how they perform, and that's where my focus is right now."

Several Texas A&M players weighed in on the rumors, saying they're playing for their coach and for each other.

"I believe we're looking to win every game for our head coach," senior wide receiver Damion Ratley said. "I mean he's the guy. He's the man who brought me here. He's the man who brought everybody on the team here. He gave us all the opportunity, so we're going to go out and play for him as we would every other game."

Junior wide receiver Christian Kirk said he is using the rumor mill as a source of motivation.

"We know how much he does for us," Kirk said. "We're all going to be behind him 100 percent. So to go out there and get that win for him ... a lot of coaches can't say they went into Death Valley and got a win. So to do that for him would be awesome and just as a team to be able to finish out strong."

One of the youngest college football teams in the country, A&M has played 18 true freshmen and 10 sophomores after Sumlin brought in 29 newcomers over the offseason.

Image: In this Saturday, Oct. 28, 2017, file photo, Texas A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin looks during the second quarter of an NCAA college football game against Mississippi State in College Station, Texas. Florida became the first Power Five program this season to make a coaching, but several more enter the last month of the season faced with what could be a hard choice. (AP Photo/Sam Craft, File)