Instant reaction: Texas A&M football puts together most dominant showing in several seasons as Aggies humiliate Missouri Tigers
In the morning studio shows ahead of Texas A&M football’s big game against Missouri, coach Eli Drinkwitz spoke about his feeling that the Tigers had an advantage on the outside, with their receivers matching up against A&M’s corners. He concluded by saying that Mizzou would take the ball first, hoping to make a statement on offense.
Well, that didn’t work out too well for the Tigers.
The Aggies gave up one big play on a pass to Luther Burden early on, but then the defense was stellar from that point on. And that’s to say nothing of the offense, which looked downright elite with a resurgent Conner Weigman.
With no. 15 out there behind center, the Aggies only punted twice, and one of those was off of a get-to-the-half drive with four seconds left in the second quarter. He looked in complete command today, throwing the ball brilliantly and running just enough to keep the defense honest.
The A&M offense, at the time that Conner exited the game (halfway through the fourth quarter), had 501 yards—276 passing, 225 rushing. That’s balance, folks. Weigman himself was 18/22, showcasing the accuracy.
As the ESPN broadcast stated at the end, this was the largest margin of victory over a top-10 team in the history of the program. Let that sink in.
Now, I don’t think this is a victory that will necessarily age like fine wine. I think Missouri won’t end the season as a top-10 team, in other words. But they could certainly end up ranked, or even in the top 15, with that schedule. They weren’t a patsy by any means.
But now you have everything in front of you. Even after a disappointing opener against Notre Dame, the Aggies still have all of their goals available. They’re 3-0 in the SEC, 5-0 in the last five, and just put together their best performance of the year.
Will Lee, after being called out (kind of?) had a banner day. He could be an all-SEC selection by year’s end—he’s been huge for this defense.
There are too many players to name specifically for how well they did. This was a complete performance by this team. Next up is Mississippi State after the bye, then the Aggies return home to play LSU on October 26.