Why a win at Mississippi State is more vital than it seems for Texas A&M football

A win this weekend against Mississippi State could mean a huge finish incoming for Texas A&M football

The upcoming game for Texas A&M football against Mississippi State is one in which they are heavy favorites. Vegas has the Aggies at about a 15-point favorite already over the moribund Bulldogs, despite the fact that the SEC's other maroon and white-clad team just came within ten points of Georgia in Athens.

Of course, that was precipitated mostly by Kirby Smart's squad letting off the gas in the second half. And the Aggies, to be clear, should in no way be taking this State squad lightly—even though the metrics say this is a patently horrible P4 team, the Aggies have had their fair share of awful losses against bad Mississippi State groups.

In fact, since joining the SEC back in 2012, the Aggies have a record of 2-4 in Starkville, despite being favored in four of those six games. Most notoriously, the Aggies came into Davis Wade stadium ranked fourth in the nation in 2016 before suffering an embarrassing defeat following Trevor Knight's injury.

Those two wins, though, are of particular interest here. If the Aggies go on to win this game on Saturday, they'll move to 6-1 on the season—a mark they've only reached in one other season since joining the SEC.

As Robert Behrens points out, in those other two seasons where they've won in Starkville, their combined final record was 20-3; a .870 winning percentage. In the seasons in which they've fallen to the Bulldogs in Starkville, their combined final record is 28-21; a 0.571 winning percentage.

It's a small sample size, but winning in Starkville is, strangely enough, quite the bellwether for how a given Aggie season might go. It may not be because of the strength of the actual team they're facing on Saturday, but this weekend's result could signal the highly successful season every Aggie fan has been dreaming of is becoming a reality before our eyes.