Texas A&M's final game of the regular season is this evening in Austin, as the Aggies get ready to take on the Texas Longhorns in the Lone Star Showdown. The Aggies are set to be without star running back Le'Veon Moss as well as starting linebacker Scooby Williams and starting safety Bryce Anderson in this game, but the Longhorns are watching closely to see if their starting linebacker— Anthony Hill— will be able to go in this one.
Without Hill, it will be even tougher sledding for the Longhorns defensively. This is an extremely potent Aggie offense that is coming to town, and losing such a key piece of the unit will be really tough on the Horns.
On the flipside, the Aggies have shown they can play well even without Moss, Williams, and Anderson. You'd obviously much rather be at full strength here, but what the Aggies do well matches up quite conveniently with Texas's weaknesses.
Final odds and predictions for Texas A&M football vs Texas
The Aggies have held steady as a 2.5-point favorite throughout the week per Fanduel's line, despite the fact that the Longhorns are 18-1 in their last 19 home games. The one game they lost, of course, was the only one they played against a top-5 team in Georgia, and now the Aggies roll in with a top-3 ranking.
There's a sense of dread among a lot of Longhorn fans at this point, especially with the Anthony Hill news apparently trending in a bad direction. If he really is unable to go, that could spell doom for the Longhorns' already-slim chances.
The keys for the Aggies here are relatively simple: stay on schedule on offense and get off the field on long third downs on defense. They've been great at both so far this year, and Texas isn't exactly the team to knock them off in either respect this season.
The other thing, pretty obviously, is that the Aggies need to finish their drives. They're one of the best teams in the country in creating quality possessions, but they have struggled at times to finish those drives off with points— the current kicker situation doesn't help. It hasn't bitten them yet this year, but early issues here could create some confidence issues.
Of course, this team has been great at shrugging off bad bounces all year— just look at the South Carolina game. There's no doubt that Sark will try to put them behind early with a shot play in the first series, so the defense needs to be ready for that. Tackle on the edges, limit the screen game, and you're golden.
This is a game the Aggies should win, by all accounts. And when that's been the case, they've pulled it off every single time this year.