After a bye week of rest and recovery following a 41-10 beatdown of then-No. 9 Missouri, No. 14 Texas A&M football is heading back on the road to face Mississippi State at 3:15 p.m. Saturday. The Aggies are fresh off their most complete offensive performance of the season, but they would do well not to overlook the Bulldogs, who gave No. 5 Georgia all it could handle in a 41-31 loss last week.
Questions were asked about which quarterback would start the game against the Tigers, but coach Mike Elko trotted out redshirt sophomore QB Connor Weigman to lead the offense, and he didn’t disappoint. Weigman lit up the field against the usually stout Missouri defense, throwing for 276 yards while hitting 18 out of his 22 passes.
The game plan called for everyone to get involved as 10 different receivers caught a pass. Freshman athlete Terry Bussey was heavily utilized at receiver for the first time and showed off his dynamic RAC ability. Bussey’s role should continue to evolve as offensive coordinator Collin Klein schemes up more ways to get the ball in his hands.
Even with the well-balanced passing performance, the name of the game, just like it’s been all year, has been the dominant Aggie rushing attack with its fourth week of over 200 rushing yards this season. The Maroon and White have relied on the thunder and lightning pairing of junior running backs Le’Veon Moss and Amari Daniels and they haven’t disappointed.
Daniels scored A&M’s first two touchdowns against Missouri, each from one yard out, but after that, it was a whole lot of Moss. The Tigers’ defenders just couldn’t seem to bring Moss down, and he was able to showcase his long speed for a 75-yard touchdown, his longest of the year.
While Mississippi State has historically had a solid defense, the Bulldogs have seemingly lost their bite this year. The Bulldogs are last in the SEC by a healthy margin in both points and yards given up with 33.2 and 465.7, respectively, and haven’t given up fewer than 30 points in a game since their opener against FCS opponent Eastern Kentucky. They have had a hard time creating takeaways, but doubled the amount of interceptions they had on the year by picking off senior Georgia QB Carson Beck twice, and Elko took notice.
“[Sophomore safety] Isaac Smith and [sophomore cornerback] Brice Pollock highlight their secondary, and it’s an improving group every single week,” Elko said. “Full expectation is that we’re going to have our hands full going down to Starkville. We always do.”
The Bulldogs have athletes along their defensive line, but they haven’t been able to convert that athleticism to production to start the season. Junior linebacker Stone Blanton is a heavy hitter and a leader for the Mississippi State linebacker corps and should be a player the Aggies watch out for when they make it to the second level.
