Texas A&M started off the season in exactly the fashion fans were hoping for, winning 50-0 over the Missouri State Bears. Far from writing this game off as a simple contest against an overmatched opponent, there are definitely some key takeaways for Aggie fans.
Let’s dive into who was a winner from this game and who was a loser from the Texas A&M perspective.
Winners and losers for Texas A&M from Missouri State blowout
Winner: Marcel Reed
There was a heck of a lot of talk about how much Reed had improved as a thrower of the football over this past offseason, and the evidence we got from this game definitely supported that buzz. Reed was extremely impressive with his placement of the ball outside of maybe two throws the entire night— he wasn’t helped by some drops and unfortunate out-of-bounds calls, but simply controlling what he can control, he was very good.
He utilized his legs very effectively as well, starting right from the first play of the game. His early scramble set the tone for the evening, as he was able to knife through the Missouri State defense pretty much every time he pulled the ball down in this one.
Reed ended up taking a couple of sacks, but that was more so on the offensive line rather than anything that was his fault. His 70% completion was the second-best of his career as a starter, and he wasn’t just checking it down all day, either.
Winner: Lyle Hemphill
Hemphill and Elko seemed like they had a lot of synergy as a defensive duo, and their pairing looks potent very early on. The Aggies had their best defensive performance in years in this game against the Missouri State Bears— for whatever people want to say about level of competition, the Aggies have played a lot of bad teams in that time, and it’s never quite looked like this.
Texas A&M really didn’t even put up any eye-popping sack or TFL numbers in this one— they simply choked the life out of the opposing offense. The Bears averaged 1.61 yards per carry and 1.7 yards per pass attempt, only managing 40 total plays in the game.
That’s what elite defenses do, and the Aggies look like they have the makings of just that on campus. There’s been a lot said about how good this defense is going to be for the Ags, and it looks early on like they may even be better than expected.
Winner: Young players
For all the good we saw out of this game, the main thing that brought a smile to Mike Elko’s face was the play of the youngsters on the team. Elko shouted out several true freshmen that were out there making big plays late in the game, giving Aggie fans a look at the bright future ahead.
There were several on defense, including Samu Moala, Tristian Givens, and Tamarion Watkins, but the real buzz was around the pop that Carsyn Baker and KJ Edwards showed as running backs. The electricity and physicality you could see out of those two was simply different— and fans shouldn’t be surprised to see a lot more from them going forward.
Loser: Offensive line… in the first half
The big point of frustration— something that gave Aggie fans a sinking feeling in the pit of their stomachs— was the way the offensive line, especially the interior of the offensive line, looked in the first half. It was mainly two drives, but there were some small points of concern even before.
The two drives in question were pretty much catastrophic— the Ags gave up two sacks in a row on one, and they registered two straight holding penalties on the other. Both ended without points for A&M, and a palpable sense of “here we go again” began to permeate the Aggie faithful.
But in the second half, the line looked more than serviceable— in fact, they looked dominant. They cleaned up their play and they bulldozed a Missouri State front that was routinely throwing huge numbers at the line of scrimmage, ending the day with some pretty solid work for this group.
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