Texas A&M is in a prime spot to be considered a trap game for this Missouri Tigers team, in many ways. The Aggies are coming into CoMo directly after a huge win for the Tigers, who destroyed a top-10 Florida squad by 28 points last weekend in a shocking upset, and it's conceivable that there would be some letdown for Mizzou after that.
Combine that with the fact that the Aggies are coming in a little bit under the radar— and that it's an early kickoff rather than a late game— and it's not hard to see that there are a lot of factors that scream trap game for the Tigers. That would be a potential boost to an Aggie team that needs whatever they can get coming into this one.
However, as sound as that line of reasoning may seem, there are reasons to doubt that the Tigers will be overlooking the Ags in this one. For as bad as Texas A&M has played up to this point in the season, A&M ought not think that the Tigers are looking beyond this matchup.
Texas A&M won't be overlooked by Missouri despite trap game potential
The simple fact of the matter is that, with how badly the Aggies have beaten down the Tigers in the last two years, this is a game that the Tigers were always going to have circled, no matter how badly A&M was playing coming into it. They have embarrassed Mizzou both seasons under Elko so far: Missouri came into Kyle Field as a top-10 team and left as a 31-point loser in 2024, and were fringe playoff contenders until the Aggies beat them down by three touchdowns in 2025.
Now, there has been a lot of turnover for the Tigers as far as the roster goes, so it's not as if this is a squad full of players that remember how that all went. But there are enough— and they are led by a man in Eli Drinkwitz who is determined to get his first win over Mike Elko.
There may not be an edge for the Aggies when it comes to a potential trap game feel, but there certainly is in the coaching department: Elko has known just what to do in order to shut down Drinkwitz's offenses the last two years.
Now, it should be said that the Aggies were facing a very green quarterback in Matt Zollers last year rather than the established starter in Beau Pribula— and also that Austin Simmons is probably better than both of those players, as well as Brady Cook. Even so, Elko has had a schematic advantage over Drinkwitz in both of these games that has played out in a more outsized effect than the talent disparity would suggest.
These are two teams both playing very differently right now, however. The Aggies are struggling in a lot of facets on offense, while the Tigers are firing on all cylinders. We'll have to see if Elko can change both of those facts— and we will see very soon.
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