Five bold predictions for Texas A&M's Week 6 clash with the Mississippi State Bulldogs

It's time to get brazen as we inch closer to Texas A&M's second conference game of the season, welcoming Jeff Lebby's 4-1 Mississippi State program. The Aggies find themselves as a prohibitive victor, with most books making them more than a two-touchdown favorite in this one, which means we could be in for plenty of surprise performances. Let's give out five of our boldest predictions for what we may witness this Saturday

Mario Craver has a field day against his old teammates

Let's get the most enticing bold prediction out of the way first, as star wideout Mario Craver gets to face off against his former team since transferring out this offseason. Craver has been one of the biggest reasons for A&M's early success — his 477 yards and four touchdowns rank seventh and 15th in the nation, respectively, and he's tied for the second-most receptions of 20-plus yards in the sport.

Now Mississippi State's secondary is no joke, allowing under 200 passing yards per game, but they did just let Tennessee's Mike Matthews and Chris Brazzell II each go for 100-plus yards last weekend. If that's closer to what this Bulldog secondary will resemble when they head to Kyle Field, then I think Craver is set for a massive day.

Let's set the mark at eight grabs for 140 yards and two touchdowns, and he'll enjoy a couple of massive plays against some familiar faces.

Le'Veon Moss continues to surge at tailback

The Aggies' starting back has gotten better each week with rushing totals of 19, 68, 81 and 139 through the first four games. A lot of that has to do with slowly returning to his best form after an ACL tear sidelined him for some time, but with that firmly in the rearview mirror you can see him gaining more and more confidence in his abilities.

Mississippi State holds the 66th best run defense in the country, but it's been even shakier at stopping the run against other Power Four programs — allowing 191 yards per game to Arizona State and Tennessee. They've also allowed 21 run plays of 10-plus yards, which is tied for 73rd in the country.

With the growing trust in his body and an exploitable run defense coming into town, I'll predict that Moss' numbers continue to grow through his fifth game of the season: 150 rushing yards on an average of six yards per carry, and he'll also find the end zone once in what should be a smooth-sailing Aggie victory.

Texas A&M's defensive line feasts on weak pass protection again

One of our bold predictions from last week was centered around the Aggie defensive front being able to tear apart a weak Auburn offensive line, a group that had given up 10 sacks to Oklahoma the week prior.

Well, this time around, it's another poor offensive line coming into town and one that just allowed five sacks to Tennessee. The Bulldogs have one of the worst sack rates allowed in the country, sitting at 8.53 percent, and the Aggie defense is near the top 10 with a sack rate of 9.72 percent.

Let's call for Texas A&M to one-up its production from last week: eight sacks on the day, including a pair from its star athlete Cashius Howell.

Texas A&M corners lock up an explosive Mississippi State passing game

Now this may go hand-in-hand with Texas A&M's pass-rush having a field day against the Mississippi State offensive line, but despite the Bulldogs struggling to protect its quarterback they still have one of the most explosive passing games in the nation.

Quarterback Blake Shapen and his offense have 11 passing plays of 30-plus yards, 10 of 40-plus yards and five of 50-plus, which ranks ninth, first and second, respectively.

It doesn't seem like you're going to be able to entirely wipe away that type of production this weekend but I'll call for the Aggie defensive backs to slightly hamper it: just two plays of 30-plus yards on the day, hopefully preventing scores on each of them.

The Aggies rout the Bulldogs in honor of Miss Reveille IX

Let's take a break from the numbers and the matchups for our final bold prediction. Texas A&M had to say an emotional goodbye this past week, as the former First Lady of Aggieland, Miss Reveillie IX, passed away due to complications from pneumonia. Reveille IX became the team's mascot in 2015 and retired in 2021.

In her honor, I'm predicting the Aggies win emphatically on Saturday. Let's call for a final score of 42-17, which would be their largest margin of victory so far this season, and prove again how seriously the Aggies need to be taken in the national conversation.