Know the Foe - Texas A&M

I kind of like Texas A&M. I guess because they are an Ag school who wear the maroon. Mississippi State used to be known as Mississippi A&M, and we were the Aggies at one time as well. They have a dog, we have a dog. I think Collies are pretty cool. We both bitterly despise the cultured goons at the University named after our state. Maybe we can have a friendly rivalry, we need one since Auburn went and screwed up the one we had with them.

A&M's Season so far

Their first game of the year with LA Tech was postponed to Week 7 due to Hurricane [I can't remember the name and don't feel like looking it up]. They hosted Gameday in Week 2 and were actually a one point favorite over Florida, but they were unable to hold onto a 17-10 halftime lead and lost 20-17. You have to wonder how that game would have gone if it wasn't A&M's first game of the year.

The Aggies took care of a couple patsies, SMU and South Carolina State, before coming back to College Station to get their first SEC win, a 58-10 thumping of Arkansas. The next week they came back on Ole Miss in fine fashion, erasing a 10 point deficit in the closing minutes to win by 3. They won a shootout in Shreveport with LA Tech, then lost at home to LSU despite an early 12-0 lead, and they most recently destroyed Auburn on the Plains.

A&M's Offense

They've got a poor-man's Cam Newton who seems to be tearing through the SEC in equal or greater than fashion. He leads the SEC in rushing with 793 yards and 3rd in the SEC with 277 yards per game.

A&M leads the SEC in scoring offense (45.5), total offense (542.9), rushing offense (237.6), 3rd down conversions (54%) and is 2nd in passing offense (305.2). They have been stopped, however, as Florida held them to 17 points and LSU to 19, and that was in College Station. They will turn it over as well, averaging almost two a game.

Other than Johnny Football, you'll definitely want to keep an eye out for WR Ryan Swope and Mike Evans. They have 1,225 yards between them.

This offense is going to score points. MSU has a good defense, but doesn't have the defense of Florida or LSU.

A&M's Defense

7th in scoring defense (22) and 10th in total defense (338.5). They are 2nd in the league with 26 sacks and have only allowed opponents to convert on 3rd down 27.7% of the time.

Player to watch: Damontre Moore on the D-line. He has 65 tackles, 18 tackles for loss, and 10.5 sacks. I did a double take when I saw those stats, who does he think he is, Jarvis Jones or Jadaveon Clowney?

Odd Stat: The Aggies are averaging 66 yards worth of penalties per game. State is averaging 39.