Saturday, Oct. 5
12:00 p.m. Eastern, 9:00 a.m. Pacific
ABC
The Week 6 slate in college football is relatively light on big matchups. The sport is taking a breather before the massive October 12 schedule which has all the huge blockbusters we have been waiting for. However, this is the one game between two ranked teams, with Texas A&M slipping into the back end of the top 25 and facing top-10 Missouri.
Let’s talk about rankings for a moment in setting up this game: Rankings really don’t mean much right now, certainly not in terms of measuring a team’s actual level of quality. Ole Miss was ranked in the top six last week, but you could clearly see that the Rebels were not a top-six-level team. They played a subpar game at home and were taken out by Kentucky, the same Kentucky team which got its doors blown off at home by South Carolina. The ranking assigned to Ole Miss in late September, all for crushing a bunch of cupcakes, just didn’t mean anything. Hopefully, bettors weren’t sucked in by Ole Miss.
See where we are going here? Missouri has a high national ranking, but the Tigers are not playing like a top-10 team. They barely beat Boston College and Vanderbilt at home. If they keep playing like that, they are going to get picked off a some point. Can Texas A&M force Missouri to play at a lower level? Are the Aggies tough enough and physical enough to force the issue? Let’s see.
Missouri Tigers-Texas A&M Aggies Odds
Spread: Missouri +2.5 (-115), Texas A&M -2.5 (-105)
Total: 48.5 (Over -110, Under -110)
Underdog moneyline: Missouri +115
Hear T.J. and Gary talk Missouri chances at winning in College Station, TX, on the newest “3 Dog Thursday Podcast” by clicking play below,
Mizzou ready for an upset?
This game will be a test – and revelation – of Missouri’s true quality. You might not see the Tigers play their very best game, but if they do improve upon their mediocre performances from the previous few weeks and get out of College Station with a win, they might round into form and become the top team they were predicted to be before the season began.
When you bet on a Texas A&M game in 2024, what should you count on? Mike Elko’s defense, that’s what. The Aggies aren’t a complete team, but they will play good defense and not give up too many big plays. Missouri’s patience will be tested on offense.
The real key to this game and most A&M games is whether the offense can score enough to win. Elko will need a dynamic quarterback in the transfer portal this coming offseason, so that he doesn’t get stuck the way other prominent coaches (Mike Norvell at Florida State, Hugh Freeze at Auburn) have been in 2024. In the meantime, A&M has to get by with what it has. Will it be enough against a struggling Missouri team which, for all its flaws, has found ways to win close games this year?