Texas A&M Football: Evaluating Aggies’ first 3 opponents in 2022

9/17 Miami @ Kyle Field

This one will be a tougher one to study over.

Miami is in a complete overhaul with a new coach from the other side of the country. It won’t be long before College Station is overrun by Miami fans all chanting “The U is back!”. All we can hope for is to shut down their dreams and destroy the narrative that they are back. But I digress…

I, for one, am interested to see where this program is going to go under the new leadership of Mario Cristobal, the former Oregon head coach. Oregon was less than consistent last year, as they had a top-five win of the year against Ohio State in Columbus just to go on to lose to Utah twice and lose to a 3-9 Stanford. So I can imagine his first year or two in Miami will be anything but smooth. I believe with the coaching staff being put together as well with the resources they have recruiting-wise Miami will be a force in the future. As of right now, I am not buying anything higher than 7-5.

Players to Watch:

Tyler Van Dyke QB #9 2021 Stats (2931 Passing Yards, 25 TDs, 62.3% Completion, 293 Passing YPG)

Will Mallory TE #85 2021 Stats (347 Receiving Yards, 4 TDs, 11.6 Yards per Catch)

Corey Flagg Jr LB #11 2021 Stats (60 Tackles, 7 TFL, 3 Sacks)

Analysis:

This game will be generating a lot of buzz, as both of these teams draw eyes. I mentioned in my other article I believe this could be a College Gameday kind of game. It will set the tone for the season as whoever wins this game will have one of the better wins on their resume for the season. Watching Oregon’s games from last year shows that their offense and defense were nothing spectacular. They run a very balanced offense and their defense had a strong front four but a weak secondary.

Mario Cristobal runs motion mainly with the running back to get a visualization of what kind of defense their opponents are running. His offense seems to function best when he has a dual-threat QB which could present challenges for assuming starter Tyler Van Dyke. From the games I observed, Mario Cristobal likes to run a spread type of offense that adds a lot of misdirection and jet sweeps.

Miami will be trying to find answers for the department of their two best wide receivers and a whole new front four for their defense. They are returning three starters on the offensive line but the other two need to be attacked by A&M. This team will be young and inexperienced in key positions on the defensive line and linebackers, which is blood in the water for A&M and their experienced backfield. If A&M can be more physical on the line and spook their young WRs, this should be a blowout.

Prediction: 42-21 (Texas A&M 3-0)