That is how you make a statement.
What a game.
And what a weekend of college football.
With the eyes of the nation descending on the matchup between the then-#9 Missouri Tigers and the then-#25 (a whoop) Fightin’ Texas Aggies, the good guys made some waves reverberate around the college football world with a pristine performance on Saturday morning, taking down the Tigers in a resounding 41-10 win to move to 5-1 heading into the bye week. Led by a strong defensive effort and the return of Conner Weigman, the Ags started fast and never looked back, racing out to a 24-0 lead at halftime and extending the lead to 34 at multiple points before a sad late field goal from the visitors made the final score what it was, the largest margin of victory over a top-ten opponent in program history.
Overall, it was a tremendous effort that really showed the growth that the Maroon and White have experienced since the opening-week loss to Notre Dame, as the guys just continue to keep their heads down and get better, culminating in this blowout victory to close the first half of the season. It was also a massively satisfying victory, with Missouri having some choice words to say about Kyle Field not being that loud (how’d that work out for you, Brady Cook?), calling Conner Weigman “the other kid”, and the blanket stunt that the Missouri coaching staff pulled that Mike Elko called out postgame (Eli Drinkwitz, you’re a dork).
Missouri poked the bear, and they paid dearly for that. A&M was fired up, Kyle Field was fired up, and the Aggies fed off of that combined energy to make Missouri basically quit mid-way through the game, the most complete one that the Ags have played thus far through the 2024 campaign. The Ags made them hate wanting to play football at times. I loved it.
Now, considering all of the chaos that occurred this past weekend in college football, with SEC favorites Alabama and Tennessee falling in stunning upsets (SHOUTOUT TO VANDERBILT!) and other highly-ranked teams like Michigan and USC dropping their contests, suddenly everything is open for Texas A&M both in-conference and nationally. With the Maroon and White rising 10 spots to now sit at #15 in the country, momentum and excitement are extremely high as the team now gets the weekend to rest up and prepare for their next contest, a road date at Mississippi State.
After a monstrous game and kind of a coming-out party to the rest of the country, let’s break down this contest - and there’s gonna be a lot of good from this one.
Conner Weigman
To the surprise of many, including myself, it was not Marcel Reed that took the reins of the offense after three straight games of doing so.
Instead, the coaching staff deemed Conner Weigman healthy enough to get the start, and boy, did he deliver.
Everyone wondered how he would do in his first start since his injury suffered in the Notre Dame contest, and… well, he just looked like the Conner Weigman of old, completing 18-of-22 passes for 276 yards and rushing for 33 yards on top of that. He was accurate, sharp in his decision-making, his ball placement was on point, and he wasn’t afraid to tuck it and run as well. He also spread the ball around a lot (10 different receivers caught a pass). Wiggy looked confident and it felt like any shades of the Notre Dame game were completely wiped away.
This game was an extremely encouraging performance from the redshirt sophomore. And if that’s an indicator of the future, there’s plenty of reason for the 12th Man to be optimistic about their quarterback.
Everyone should thank Marcel Reed for what he brought to the table and for winning three massive games. He was asked to step into the spotlight in wake of Weigman’s injury, and the redshirt freshman more than delivered. His contributions should not be forgotten because of this great performance.
But as was shown on Saturday, this is Conner Weigman’s team. The offense has a higher ceiling with him at quarterback because of how defenses have to respect his arm talent. It opens up the rest of the offense as a whole because his ability to throw the football is really good.
So much for being “the other kid”, right Eli Drinkwitz? Way to shut up the critics.
It’s good to have you back, 15. Let’s keep that momentum going.
(Shoutout to Mike Elko, too, for defending him so ardently. That’s my coach and my quarterback.)
Growth and Buying In
This game was kind of the coming-out party of the culture that Mike Elko and his coaching staff have tried to instill in this program ever since he was hired. There were multiple signs throughout the duration of this contest - and even pregame - that the players on this team have bought into Elko’s message and vision for this program, for now and the future.
Let’s start with Marcel Reed. Dude balls out for three games, goes 3-0 in that timeframe beating some tough competition, and was widely projected to get the starting nod today. Instead, the coaching staff deems Conner Weigman healthy enough to play and he gets the start. Rather than take the news poorly after a successful run as QB1, Reed becomes Weigman’s biggest supporter and is a major source of energy on the sideline, ready to be called in if needed.
That’s culture.
How about the defense’s last drive? The game was basically long over and Missouri wanted to get a garbage-time touchdown to make themselves look better. They could’ve just allowed the Tigers to score a meaningless touchdown and accelerate the end of the game. Instead, the unit buckled down when Missouri got to the Texas A&M 11-yard line, forcing them to run eight plays in that area of the field. Here’s how it went:
8-yard run
1-yard run
0-yard run
1-yard run, first down
-5 yard pass
Incomplete pass
Incomplete pass
23-yard field goal
All that for a measly field goal.
That was the drive I was the most proud of the defense for, even if they allowed points. They didn’t break, defended that endzone like their lives were on the line, and only allowed a field goal to basically completely make the Tigers give up on offense. They fed off of the energy that Kyle Field brought all game, took those pregame comments personal, and they delivered one of their best performances (maybe their best) of the season.
That’s culture.
Proud of the guys for this effort. Time to keep building on it.
Defense
Speaking of the defense: they set the tone early en route to a smothering performance of a talented Missouri offense. Maybe there wasn’t a turnover, but a fourth-down stop on the opening drive is about as good as you’ll get. The secondary and pass rush held quarterback Brady Cook to only 186 yards on just 13-of-31 passing, getting to him six times as well. They also had 20(!!!) QB hurries. One of the top runners in the SEC in Nate Noel had 30 yards on 10 carries - the Tigers finished with just 68 yards on the ground. No one outside of Luther Burden had more than 3 catches (and a lot of those were in garbage time anyways). The only reason why Missouri got a touchdown - a long pass to Theo Wease - was because there was a clear missed holding penalty that allowed the visitors to get in the endzone.
Pretty good day at the office, I’d say.
Nic Scourton was an animal once again, recording 2.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks. I thought Rodas Johnson had his best game as an Aggie. Will Lee followed up that blanket stunt from the Missouri coaching staff by not allowing a catch all morning. Albert Regis was a force in the interior, a big part why the Missouri run game couldn’t get going. Dalton Brooks and BJ Mayes continue to get better. Daymion Sanford, Taurean York, and DJ Hicks also added a sack each.
There are just so many game-wreckers on this defense, and it makes them a nightmare for opposing offenses to have to deal with. There are contributors at all three levels, and it doesn’t feel like there’s a weakness on that side of the ball. We knew that this side of the ball would be the strength of this football team, and they’ve delivered on that hype in a big way thus far.
By the way - shoutout to Jay Bateman for calling an incredible game on Saturday. He took Missouri’s lunch money.
Penalties
I gotta complain about at least one thing, right? Even though it was a tremendous win, it still wasn’t perfect, obviously.
Ten penalties is not gonna cut it. Yeah, I understand A&M walloped Missouri despite them, but it’s something that has to be cleaned up pretty quickly as the Ags continue to play high-level competition. A lot of them were some that are easily avoidable, from false starts to a late facemask.
Other competition can make A&M pay in the future for those costly mistakes. It didn’t matter much because the game was so lopsided early and never wavered from that, but those can really impact a future game. Clean those up, and things are a lot smoother for this team.
Le’Veon Moss
Everyone, meet your new leading rusher in the SEC.
It may also be time to consider him as one of the better running backs in the country.
The junior from Louisiana just continues to absolutely thrive in this new Collin Klein offense, putting together yet another big game to complement Conner Weigman on offense. This time, he put together a three-touchdown performance and 138 yards on 12 carries to cut through the Missouri front like butter.
Moss has blended power and speed to emerge as the engine of a proficient running game for Texas A&M this year, one that ranks ninth in the nation in yards per game. While most know about the physical running style that he has brought to Aggieland since he arrived on campus and which has only gotten better and better, his speed was on full display on Saturday as well, as highlighted on the 75-yard touchdown run on A&M’s first play of the second half.
He’s been incredible this year, and his emergence has been a big reason why the A&M offense has been able to hum on the ground. Now, he gets a week to rest up before he gets after it again. What a weapon he has emerged into for the Aggies.
The Path Ahead
All of a sudden, everything is laid out in front of Texas A&M this year. They control their own destiny.
I hate looking ahead and dreaming about what-ifs because they always come back to bite me later on. But when you take a look at the schedule, there’s a legit path for the Aggies to make some noise.
Yes, road games are tough. Mississippi State, South Carolina, and Auburn are tough places to play. However, all those games are winnable - it appears that the road woes have gotten better after the comfortable win at Florida a few weeks ago, and there’s no reason why the Aggies can’t go to these environments and win. Mississippi State may be the worst team in the SEC, South Carolina is starting to slip a little bit, and I don’t think Auburn is a serious team yet despite the personnel they have.
As for the home games, the 12th Man proved to the nation how effective Kyle Field can be when affecting opponents (wish that was the case with Notre Dame, but hey the environment was sick as hell anyways). New Mexico State got drastically worse from last year with their head coach and quarterback (shoutout Diego Pavia) leaving. I’m not entirely sure how good LSU is - they’re talented, but extremely inconsistent and beat up, especially on defense.
Texas looks really good, but I also feel like they haven’t played anyone worth a damn yet. And that environment is going to be unlike anything I’ve ever been a part of before.
It’s not inconceivable to think that Texas A&M can make some actual, national noise this season. It’s all ahead of them. They just gotta take it one game at a time, and go and keep winning.
It’s rat poison to look ahead. I’m trying not to. I kinda hate all of the national attention and speculation about best-case scenarios because I feel like it’s gonna blow up. I have too much trauma from that. But there’s a legit argument to be made right now. Just have to keep working.
That will do it for this one. Some last-minute takeaways for this one:
Love seeing Terry Bussey get more comfortable in this offense. Led the team in receiving yards despite not playing a lot. He’s going to continue to get more run while Collin Klein dials up more ways to get him the ball. Good trajectory so far.
I briefly mentioned him earlier, but BJ Mayes looked really good at nickel. Glad to see him recovering from injury nicely. He’s gonna be an asset for that A&M secondary. Imagine if this group had Tyreek Chappell and Rueben Owens healthy.
Here’s a tweet with some really great stats about Mike Elko’s start as the head man of the Aggies thus far. Strong foundation - just have to keep building.
Thank you for reading, and sorry this was a bit later than usual. In the next few days, I’ll be talking about some of my midseason thoughts since we’re at the bye week. See you all soon!
-Sourav