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Texas A&M Football: First Look – Oklahoma State Cowboys

ByGraham Harmon|
Oklahoma State's Rashod Owens (10) stiff arms Oklahoma's Jasiah Wagoner (23) during a Bedlam college football game between the Oklahoma State University Cowboys (OSU) and the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Okla., Saturday, Nov. 4, 2023.
Oklahoma State's Rashod Owens (10) stiff arms Oklahoma's Jasiah Wagoner (23) during a Bedlam college football game between the Oklahoma State University Cowboys (OSU) and the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Okla., Saturday, Nov. 4, 2023.

Preliminary Evaluation of Bowl Opponent for Texas A&M Football

Once again, Texas A&M football will find themselves down in Houston playing Oklahoma State in the Texas Bowl. For those of you keeping track, this is the exact same bowl game and matchup that concluded the 2019 season, though both teams were in very different places at that time. For the Aggies’ part, they were coming off a very strange schedule that consisted of 5 teams that finished within the SP+ top 10, and seven teams that very much did not. As you might expect, the Aggies finished 7-5 in those games (though they came very close to toppling UGA in Athens). The Cowboys were switching between their main passing quarterback Dru Brown and a young rushing threat named Spencer Sanders (now somehow the backup in Oxford).

This year, the Aggies again come into this game at 7-5, though a very different looking team than they were previously. While most of their losses came to the top echelon of teams in the country, they have the black mark that is the Miami game on their ledger. If things hold as they currently are, the Aggies will also be somewhat reduced on the defensive side, as transfer portal entries have done a number on that side of the ball. The Cowboys are inexplicably coming off a conference championship appearance yet ranked fourth at the highest in their conference bowl selection order.

The Cowboys started off this season looking… quite bad. A home loss to South Alabama and getting blown out 45-3 by UCF make up an inauspicious start for any team. However, behind the hard running of star back Ollie Gordon, Oklahoma State has managed to turn things around somewhat. Alan Bowman has been inconsistent at signal caller, and their defense has been absolutely dreadful, but they’ve found a way to win games enough to be knocking on the door of double-digit wins.

The strength of this squad matches up well with what the Aggies can defend against, but it remains to be seen exactly what the defense for Texas A&M football will look like when December 27 rolls around. Walter Nolen is obviously in the portal. McKinnley Jackson has declared for the NFL draft, but has yet to announce whether he will be playing in the game. Aggie fans still await an announcement from Edgerrin Cooper. Both starting defensive backs are currently in the portal as well. There are a lot of unknowns. I still feel good about the defensive line, however—when your backups are David Hicks and Gabriel Brownlow-Dindy, you should still have a pretty stout group.

I’ll take the Aggies to win in this one, 31-17. I think Henderson and company, even without the guiding eye of Petrino, can operate well enough on the ground to control the game. Conversely, I think the Cowboys will find themselves in inopportune passing situations, and trusting Bowman with the game is what got them in trouble early in the year.